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Grand Prix qualifying results: Verstappen on pole for Austria F1

Max Verstappen took pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday, the ninth round of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship season, ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris.

Watch: Starting Grid for the Austrian Grand Prix

Verstappen came out on top after the one-hour qualifying session, with title rival Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes only managing fourth position.

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Austrian Grand Prix qualifying results: Verstappen on pole from Norris

Cla Driver Time Gap km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen
1'03.720 243.954
2 United Kingdom Lando Norris
1'03.768 0.048 243.771
3 Mexico Sergio Perez
1'03.990 0.270 242.925
4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
1'04.014 0.294 242.834
5 Finland Valtteri Bottas
1'04.049 0.329 242.701
6 France Pierre Gasly
1'04.107 0.387 242.482
7 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
1'04.273 0.553 241.855
8 United Kingdom George Russell
1'04.591 0.871 240.665
9 Canada Lance Stroll
1'04.618 0.898 240.564
10 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
1'04.559 0.839 240.784
11 Germany Sebastian Vettel
1'04.570 0.850 240.743
12 Monaco Charles Leclerc
1'04.600 0.880 240.631
13 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
1'04.719 0.999 240.189
14 Spain Fernando Alonso
1'04.856 1.136 239.681
15 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
1'05.083 1.363 238.845
16 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
1'05.009 1.289 239.117
17 France Esteban Ocon
1'05.051 1.331 238.963
18 Canada Nicholas Latifi
1'05.195 1.475 238.435
19 Germany Mick Schumacher
1'05.427 1.707 237.589
20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
1'05.951 2.231 235.702

What happened in Q1?

Verstappen set the Q1 benchmark at 1m04.249s, a quarter of a second ahead of Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) was third, 0.314s off the pace, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Norris completing the top five after the first runs.

Norris went again, jumping up to P2 and just 0.096s off Verstappen’s best time, and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso took the third-fastest spot – quicker than the Mercedes duo, who both failed to improve on their second runs.

Falling at the first hurdle were Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen (who missed Q2 by 0.032s), Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, and the Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Austrian Grand Prix Q1 results: Verstappen fastest from Norris

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 3 1'04.249 241.946
2 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 6 1'04.345 0.096 0.096 241.585
3 Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine 3 1'04.472 0.223 0.127 241.109
4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 6 1'04.506 0.257 0.034 240.982
5 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 6 1'04.563 0.314 0.057 240.769
6 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 9 1'04.596 0.347 0.033 240.646
7 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 9 1'04.782 0.533 0.186 239.955
8 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull 8 1'04.833 0.584 0.051 239.766
9 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 9 1'04.841 0.592 0.008 239.737
10 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 9 1'04.846 0.597 0.005 239.718
11 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 9 1'04.906 0.657 0.060 239.497
12 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams 6 1'04.907 0.658 0.001 239.493
13 Canada Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 9 1'04.927 0.678 0.020 239.419
14 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 9 1'04.967 0.718 0.040 239.272
15 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 9 1'04.977 0.728 0.010 239.235
16 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo 9 1'05.009 0.760 0.032 239.117
17 France Esteban Ocon
Alpine 6 1'05.051 0.802 0.042 238.963
18 Canada Nicholas Latifi
Williams 6 1'05.195 0.946 0.144 238.435
19 Germany Mick Schumacher
Haas 9 1'05.427 1.178 0.232 237.589
20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
Haas 9 1'05.951 1.702 0.524 235.702

What happened in Q2?

In Q2 the majority went out on medium tyres to begin with. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez ran early, setting the benchmark at 1m04.554s.

Hamilton briefly took P1 with 1m04.501s but was soon toppled by Verstappen’s 1m04.208s. Norris took second, 0.275s off Verstappen, his time matched to the thousandth of a second by Perez – on a second set of fresh mediums – a few moments later. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel jumped to fourth, 0.008s quicker than Hamilton.

On the final runs, Verstappen improved the P1 time to 1m03.927s, with Hamilton also improving but was 0.331s slower in P2. Bottas moved up to third, 0.449s off the pace, while (on soft tyres) Gasly jumped to fourth ahead of Norris and Perez.

Vettel was seventh, but ruined Alonso’s final lap at the last corner – which will be investigated by stewards. George Russell again starred for Williams, making it into Q3 on mediums, just behind Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) who were on softs.

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Knocked out at this point were the Ferraris of Sainz (by 0.006s) and Charles Leclerc (who both gambled on mediums again, and were beaten by those on softs), McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, the fuming Alonso, and Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo).

Austrian Grand Prix Q2 results: Verstappen fastest from Hamilton

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 6 1'03.927 243.164
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 6 1'04.258 0.331 0.331 241.912
3 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 7 1'04.376 0.449 0.118 241.468
4 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 6 1'04.412 0.485 0.036 241.333
5 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 6 1'04.415 0.488 0.003 241.322
6 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull 9 1'04.483 0.556 0.068 241.068
7 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 5 1'04.493 0.566 0.010 241.030
8 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 6 1'04.518 0.591 0.025 240.937
9 Canada Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 6 1'04.547 0.620 0.029 240.829
10 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams 6 1'04.553 0.626 0.006 240.806
11 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 6 1'04.559 0.632 0.006 240.784
12 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 6 1'04.600 0.673 0.041 240.631
13 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 6 1'04.719 0.792 0.119 240.189
14 Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine 6 1'04.856 0.929 0.137 239.681
15 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 6 1'05.083 1.156 0.227 238.845

What happened in Q3?

In the top-10 shootout, Norris set the benchmark at 1m03.958s before Verstappen produced 1m03.720s to take provisional pole. Hamilton could only manage third with 1m04.014s, ahead of Bottas and Perez.

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On the final runs, Verstappen didn’t manage to improve his time but Norris unleashed 1m03.768s, and only missed out on his first pole by 0.048s. Perez jumped to third, ahead of Hamilton, Bottas and Gasly. Tsunoda will start seventh, ahead of Russell, Stroll and Sainz – as Vettel received a three-place grid penalty that drops him to 11th.

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Austrian Grand Prix Q3 results: Verstappen takes pole from Norris

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 7 1'03.720 243.954
2 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 7 1'03.768 0.048 0.048 243.771
3 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull 7 1'03.990 0.270 0.222 242.925
4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 6 1'04.014 0.294 0.024 242.834
5 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 6 1'04.049 0.329 0.035 242.701
6 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 6 1'04.107 0.387 0.058 242.482
7 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 6 1'04.273 0.553 0.166 241.855
8 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 6 1'04.570 0.850 0.297 240.743
9 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams 3 1'04.591 0.871 0.021 240.665
10 Canada Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 6 1'04.618 0.898 0.027 240.564

 

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