Verstappen beats Leclerc to pole as Mercedes drivers crash

World Champion Max Verstappen beat Charles Leclerc to pole position for Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix as both Mercedes drivers crashed.

It marks his third successive pole position at the Red Bull Ring after topping qualifying for both of the races held in 2021.

Verstappen set a time of 1:04.984s during a protracted Q3 session to eclipse Leclerc by just 0.029s, with Carlos Sainz narrowly behind in third spot.

Mercedes had shown encouraging pace but ended Q3 with damaged cars after separate accidents for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

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Hamilton had finished third-fastest in Q2 but after abandoning his first Q3 push lap made a mistake next time around into Turn 7.

Hamilton got sideways through the left-hander and went through the gravel before impacting the barrier with the right-hand-side of the car.

After the session was restarted team-mate Russell made a mistake through the final corner and spun backwards into the barriers, bringing out the red flag once more.

Russell was then placed under investigation after he walked across the circuit, back into the pit lane, after the session was stopped.

Russell wound up fifth in the session, behind Sergio Perez, while Hamilton finished at the foot of the top 10.

Perez has been summoned to the stewards post-session after he allegedly exceeded track limits on his Q2 push lap – which was not picked up until Q3 had begun.

Esteban Ocon was sixth for Alpine while it was a strong qualifying session for Haas, as Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher locked out the fourth row of the grid. Fernando Alonso took ninth.

Pierre Gasly missed out on a Q3 spot by just 0.009s and wound up 11th, ahead of Alex Albon in the upgraded Williams, with Valtteri Bottas 13th.

Bottas will be able to take up his qualifying position for Saturday’s Sprint but will drop to the back for Sunday’s race owing to his engine penalty.

Yuki Tsunoda suffered a wild moment through Turn 1 that scuppered his prospects while Lando Norris complained of brake-related issues as he finished slowest in Q2.

It compounded a difficult session for McLaren in the wake of Daniel Ricciardo being eliminated from qualifying at the first hurdle.

Aston Martin had another subdued qualifying session as it suffered its third successive double Q1 exit.

Lance Stroll could muster only 17th while Sebastian Vettel’s lap time – which would have been enough to inch him ahead of his team-mate – was deleted for track limits.

That demoted the four-time world champion to the back of the field.

Zhou Guanyu was 18th for Alfa Romeo while Nicholas Latifi was 19th in the old-spec Williams.

Saturday’s 24-lap Sprint is scheduled for 16:30 local time

[motorsport_result id='88402']