(Motorsport) Reigning champion Max Verstappen finished on pole position during his final lap of qualifying, finishing 0.029 seconds quicker than Leclerc while Sainz was 0.082 seconds behind the Dutch driver. Mercedes had a disappointing session with both the cars crashing, resulting in George Russell starting fourth and Lewis Hamilton on ninth. The qualifying session sets up the grid for the sprint race with the outcome determining the positions for the main race. 

It is Verstappen and Red Bull’s home race and fans were firmly behind both of them as they looked to do better than Ferrari at the Red Bull Ring. The reigning champion appeared to be finding it difficult to match Ferrari’s speed but his straight line speed in the final lap was enough to secure pole. Speaking after qualifying, Verstappen said “In the end it was a really tight qualifying and it's a really challenging track to get qualifying right. We have a great car. Hope it's clean into Turn One and I get a good getaway. I feel confident with the car we have." 

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez initially finished fourth but was excluded from Q3 after exceeding the track limits during the second session of qualifying. This meant that the Mexican also lost his best timing in Q2 and will now begin the sprint race in 13th place. Leclerc will be hoping to have a clean race during the sprint session to get back into the title race, with the winner getting eight points with one point less for every position under it and eighth place gets one point. As things stand, Leclerc is 43 points behind Verstappen and both him and Ferrari need to turn their fortunes around quickly.

Leclerc said “I struggled a little bit with putting the tires in the window after the red flag and this was enough to give me some understeer and I struggle to drive around this whenever I have it. It is a shame but it is only Friday and looking at the last five races it is the Sunday that counts and I hope we can finally have a normal race. We just need a clean race and a good strategy on Sunday and everything is possible." 

As for Mercedes, Hamilton looked pacey and dominant and it appeared that he would be in the mix with the Ferrari’s and Red Bull, only 0.2 seconds behind leader Leclerc. However, the seven time World Champion lost control through turn 7 during his first flying lap in Q3, sliding across the gravel and losing his rear before smashing into the barrier. Hamilton said “I'm incredibly disappointed in myself. I'm so sorry to the team, everyone worked so hard to put this car together and I never like to damage it, bring it back damaged. We were fighting for top three, I think. I don't have an answer for it. I just lost the back end and that was that. I'm encouraged for sure. I am encouraged to see our performance, we weren't expecting to be as close as that. That's a huge positive but I am really quite far back. I hope tomorrow I can make up for some lost time."

George Russell also made a mistake at Turn 10, his car sliding sideways across the run-off and into the barrier. However, he was able to set a lap on a fresh pair of tyres, finishing fifth and later fourth due to Perez’s infringement. Esteban Ocon finished fifth ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso was eighth followed by Hamilton and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly. Williams driver Alex Albon finished 11th while McLaren’s Lando Norris was 15th followed by his teammate Daniel Ricciardo in 16th.

Also read: Carlos Sainz wins the British Grand Prix while Hamilton finishes third