Valtteri Bottas will start on pole position for the third time in Austria just ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas’ first lap in Q3 was thankfully good enough because at Turn 4 he put a wheel on the gravel and it pulled the whole car across the run off area, compromising the cars behind.
Hamilton was able to complete his lap but ended up 0.012s behind.
"Yes guys! Thanks!"@ValtteriBottas runs wide on his final lap but takes pole in Austria! 💪#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/xoHYERUbPP
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2020
Max Verstappen cemented Red Bull’s pace as second fastest team but his half second gap to Mercedes is ominous.
Lando Norris put in the star performance finishing fourth on pace ahead of Albon in fifth.
Norris was able to complete his lap ahead of the yellow flags caused by Bottas but Albon was compromised.
The big question was where the Racing Points would end up and whether they would pip Ferrari, Sergio Perez confirmed this and will start in sixth, with Charles Leclerc, the lead Ferrari in seventh.
Perez set the same time as Albon but as the Red Bull driver had set it first, he starts ahead.
Carlos Sainz will start in eighth behind his future teammate and just ahead of Lance Stroll who put in a good performance considering his qualifying weakness in 2019, while Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10.
The shock result was Sebastian Vettel being eliminated in Q2. Ferrari’s driver will start 11th only just ahead of Pierre Gasly.
Leclerc was only just ahead of Vettel in 10th in that session, just scraping into Q3.
ELIMINATED, Q2:
Vettel (📸)
Gasly
Kvyat
Ocon
Grosjean#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/walLlwlN2e— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2020
Daniil Kvyat managed to get on pace with his teammate and was clear of a returning Esteban Ocon after his year out of the sport.
Q1 was an incredibly tight session with every car potentially at risk by the time the final laps came into play.
A last gasp attempt got Romain Grosjean into Q2, where he qualified 15th, but it was at the expense of his teammate who will start 16th.
George Russell put in a few mega laps to qualify 17th. He’s followed by both Alfa Romeos’s, Giovinazzi leading Raikkonen.
In his first qualifying session of Formula 1, Nicholas Latifi qualified last about half a second down on the cut off time.
The first qualifying session of the year has thrown up a lot of surprises. The first race has a lot of questions still to answer. Formula One is back.
Q3 CLASSIFICATION
It was CLOSE between the Mercedes pair!
Norris splits the Red Bulls in P4 #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/AdnaqCl8W0
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2020
[…] “I think there’s still probably more potential in depending tracks and conditions but yes, we have been using it and it’s becoming quite natural too.” added the pole-sitter for this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix. […]