Lando Norris denied maiden pole by flying Dutchman Max Verstappen

Red Bull’s Racing’s Max Verstappen will start from pole in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix after edging out Lando Norris’ McLaren in qualifying on Saturday.

Max Verstappen pips Lando Norris

Verstappen’s third pole in a row puts the World Drivers Championship leader in a strong position to stretch his lead over Lewis Hamilton in Sunday’s ninth race of the Formula one season. The Dutch driver currently sports an 18-point lead after winning the last two Grand Prix, but he knows the job is far from done.

“Hopefully we can finish it off tomorrow,” said the 23-year-old, who was cheered on by a sea of orange-clad fans at the first Grand Prix weekend to welcome back a capacity crowd since the start of the pandemic. 

Perez noses in front of Hamilton

The Dutch driver’s teammate Sergio Perez will start on the second row alongside Hamilton’s Mercedes at the Red Bull-owned Spielberg circuit.

Verstappen topped the time sheets in Q1 and Q2, and then nailed the prime seat in the grid with a flying lap of 1min 03.720sec in Q3.

Norris was only denied his maiden career F1 pole by 0.048sec, the talented 21-year-old British driver’s performance the latest sign of his team’s resurgence. Norris will start P2 for the first time in his career, as he gave McLaren their first front row start since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, when and Jenson Button took first and second for the team.

“I feel epic, this is cool! That was probably one of the best laps I have done, it puts us in a great position for tomorrow,” said Norris.

Fourth is Hamilton’s worst performance in Q3 at the Red Bull Ring since 2014, while it is the first time Mercedes missed out on a top three spot with either car in dry conditions since the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix.

Birthday boy Sebastian Vettel – who turns 34 today – was the leading Aston Martin in eighth, however he could be in line for a grid penalty after baulking Fernando Alonso earlier in qualifying.

George Russell not only made it into Q3 for the first time in a Williams but he did so on the medium tyre, putting him in a strong position strategically for Sunday’s race.

His sole Q3 lap was impressive, too, putting him ninth on the grid.

Austrian Grand Prix Qualifying

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:04.249	1:03.927	1:03.720	15
2	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:04.345	1:04.415	1:03.768	18
3	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:04.833	1:04.483	1:03.990	23
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:04.506	1:04.258	1:04.014	18
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:04.563	1:04.376	1:04.049	19
6	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:04.841	1:04.412	1:04.107	21
7	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:04.967	1:04.518	1:04.273	21
8	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:04.846	1:04.493	1:04.570	20
9	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:04.907	1:04.553	1:04.591	15
10	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:04.927	1:04.547	1:04.618	21
11	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:04.596	1:04.559		15
12	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:04.906	1:04.600		15
13	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:04.977	1:04.719		15
14	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	1:04.472	1:04.856		9
15	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:04.782	1:05.083		15
16	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:05.009			9
17	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:05.051			6
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:05.195			6
19	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	1:05.427			9
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	HAAS FERRARI	1:05.951			9