Max Verstappen snatches sixth pole position of season at Austrian GP
World champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull claimed his sixth pole position of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday.
Charles Leclerc will join the world championship leader on the front row ahead of his Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz who qualified third-quickest and starts alongside Lando Norris of McLaren on the second row.
For the second time this year after Baku, a sprint race will take place on Saturday before the Grand Prix on Sunday.
Friday’s qualifying sets the starting grid for Sunday, while Saturday’s shootout session sets the grid for the sprint in the afternoon.
There will be six sprint races in total this season.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez failed to make the top 10 for a fourth straight race as he struggled with track limits.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes qualified in fifth followed by the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso.
Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Alex Albon (Williams) complete the top 10 on the grid.
Dutchman Verstappen is chasing a seventh victory this season. The 25-year-old leads the title race by 69 points ahead of Mexican Perez, the only other driver to have won this season in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.
Winner of the last four races, Verstappen is favourite on his team’s home Red Bull circuit as he has already won four times there — three Austrian GPs and one Styrian GP.
To achieve a one-two at home, Red Bull will have more difficulty with Perez struggling with the track limits and having his time cancelled, and will start in 15th.
Like Perez, Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) saw their times cancelled in the second qualifying session and they will start 12th, 13th and 14th respectively with Mercedes’ George Russell qualifying in 11th.
