Max Verstappen bounces back from his Silverstone woes to take pole for the sprint race at the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of the two Ferraris, sending the home fans wild at the Red Bull Ring... as BOTH Mercedes crash out of dramatic session
- Max Verstappen has taken pole position for Saturday's sprint race in Austria
- He will be joined on the front row by championship rival Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz will start third as he looks to back up his British GP victory
- Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both crashed out in Q3
Lewis Hamilton crashed out of qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix to loud and gleeful cheers from Max Verstappen’s travelling army of fans.
While Mercedes suffered a second disappointment of the evening when George Russell followed Hamilton into the wall, Verstappen secured pole position for Saturday's sprint race at the undulating Red Bull Ring – a 24-lap dash along the 10-corner, 2.7-mile track.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz qualified second and third for Ferrari, both less than one-tenth behind.
Max Verstappen edged out Charles Leclerc to take pole position for Saturday's sprint race
Charles Leclerc congratulated Verstappen, and will start on the front row on Saturday
Carlos Sainz (R) will start Saturday's sprint race in third place for Ferrari
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As for Hamilton, he lost control at the left-hand Turn 7 and hit the advertising hoardings front-right first, prompting a red-flag delay to Q3. ‘I’m so sorry guys,’ he said. He was driven back by the medical car, though he was not seriously hurt, and could walk freely on his arrival in the pit lane.
The impacted side of his Mercedes was sheared off. A big repair job awaits.
‘What position am I in?’ Hamilton asked before belatedly stepping out of the cockpit. The seven-time world champion was lying eighth at the time but will start the sprint from 10th at best as others went faster once the action resumed. He will be plunged further down the pack if he requires new parts.
Hamilton turned up for his light media duties afterwards, saying: ‘It was a big hit, but I am OK.
‘I am incredibly disappointed in myself. Everyone worked so hard to put this car together and I never like to bring it back damaged.
‘We were fighting for the top three. I don’t have an answer for it. I lost the back end and that was that.’
But he does not believe all is lost, saying: ‘I am encouraged to see our performance. We were not expecting to be as close as that today. That is a huge positive but I am really quite far back.
‘I don’t know what is possible from there but with the sprint race I hope I can make up for some lost time.’
The Spielberg track is jammed with the orange-clad Verstappen fans. Some 60,000 devotees have journeyed here from Holland and it is effectively a home race for him, as it is in fact for his Salzburg-based Red Bull team.
Lewis Hamilton crashed his Mercedes in the early stages of Q3 and will start 10th on Saturday
George Russell also crashed out in Q3, but will still start the sprint race in fifth place
So when Hamilton’s mishap occurred, more than half the spectators punched the air or let out a hoot of delight, not least after British fans booed their Max at Silverstone last weekend.
The accident caused an 11-minute delay. No sooner had qualifying restarted than Russell lost control at the final corner and spun into the tyre wall, the back of his car damaged. He walked briskly back to the garage, slapping the backs of team-mates on his final steps towards sanctuary.
He will start fifth, subject to gearbox penalties. ‘I am a bit worried about whether we can mend it,’ he said.
Sebastian Vettel had a day to forget as he failed to make it past Q1 on Friday afternoon
What else? Aston Martin’s five-year plan to win the world championship is hardly on course in its second season. Lawrence Stroll, their fashion-billionaire owner, has signed up all the staff he can get, but still there are no signs of improvement.
Quite the reverse. Sebastian Vettel was yesterday’s emblem of decline, finishing last in qualifying after having his none-too-hot best time deleted for exceeding track limits. ‘Man, that’s painful,’ the German wailed. Team-mate Lance Stroll, the boss’s son, was 17th out of 20.
Zhou returned after his miracle escape at Silverstone a week ago to labour to 18th for Alfa Romeo, though that lowly place may not matter too much when you have scorched upside down and feared for your mortality.
Briton Lando Norris qualified 15th after being unable even to set a time in Q2. ‘I’m scared even to hit the brakes,’ he complained to the McLaren pit wall. At least he was one place higher than Daniel Ricciardo in the other orange car
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Follow Sportsmail's live blog for qualifying updates as the Formula One campaign continues at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The top 10 for Saturday's sprint race:
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
5. George Russell (Mercedes)
6. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
7. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
8. Mick Schumacher (Haas)
9. Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
10. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
The Ferrari duo finish in second and third, with Leclerc just pipping his team-mate.
The Red Bull driver takes pole for the sprint race!
Around two and a half minutes to go.
Who will take pole for the sprint race?
There have been audible cheers going up when Hamilton and Russell have crashed.
The Dutch fans appear to feel that Verstappen is edging closer to claiming pole position.
We are around five minutes away from Q3 restarting again.
Russell may have to answer to the stewards following this session after walking on the track without permission following his crash.
More frustration for Mercedes.
Russell walks away uninjured, but he will also be some way down the grid for tomorrow's sprint race.
Will this session ever end!?
Russell is uninjured, but his car will need to be moved to a safe area, so the red flags are out again.
This is turning into a disastrous session for Mercedes.
Russell has now spun off the track and his Q3 is also over.
Q3 is back underway, and we have around five and a half minutes left of the session, with nine drivers left on the track.
Confirmation that Hamilton is OK as he walks away unaided.
The seven-time champion looked dejected as he got out of his car.
Q3 will restart at 17:05 (UK time), around five minutes' time.
The Brit has apologised to his team over the radio. Fortunately, he appears to be uninjured, but he is now likely to start down in tenth for Saturday's sprint race.
With Hamilton having gone into the barrier, the qualifying session has been red-flagged.
Hamilton had looked good in Q2 but he has just crashed into a barrier and his qualifying is over.
Verstappen just has the edge over Leclerc at the start of Q3, but still over six minutes remaining.
Perez is going to be investigated after the session by officials who want to check whether the Mexican exceeded track limits in Q2.
Here we go then. Q3 is underway as the top 10 drivers battle for pole position.
Leclerc led the way in Q1 and he managed to do the same again in Q2. Can he hold off Verstappen in Q3 to take pole for the sprint race?
Another five cars have been eliminated in Q2:
11. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)
12. Alex Albon (Williams)
13. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
14. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
15. Lando Norris (McLaren)
Bottas and Norris finish in the bottom five and they have not made it through to Q3.
Leclerc moves top of the timesheets as we enter the final minutes of Q2.
Perez has been struggling and has just popped into the pits after complaining about understeering.
He still needs to pick up his pace if he wants to make it into Q3.
Perez has not been able to keep pace with his team-mate so far, and has just had a lap deleted. He is only 11th fastest at the moment.
Hamilton and Russell are both into the top three in the early stages of Q2.
This may not be a straight battle between Red Bull and Ferrari.
So, Ricciardo and Vettel are out, but the show must go on.
Q2 is underway...
Five cars have been eliminated at the end of Q1:
16. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
17. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
18. Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)
19. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
20. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)
Vettel and Stroll have also been eliminated at the end of Q1.
Ricciardo's disappointing 2022 season continues as he goes out in Q1!
Vettel needs to pick his pace up in the final few minutes of Q1 if he wants to make it into Q2. He currently finds himself in the bottom five with just two minutes of Q1 remaining.
Verstappen has now registered a legitimate lap time, and moves into third behind Leclerc and Sainz, who have moved top for Ferrari.
Very tight at the top, but Hamilton goes fastest for now, with seven minutes of Q1 left.
Verstappen went quickest, but it has been determined that he exceeded track limits, and his time has been deleted. A minor setback for the defending champion there.
Leclerc and Sainz currently lead the timesheets in Q1, although Verstappen and Hamilton are yet to register lap times.
As expected, Verstappen has got a lot of support at Red Bull's home track.
The stands are full of Dutch fans, with orange smoke clear for all to see as the drivers fly around the track.
Valtteri Bottas has opted to take a new engine for this weekend's race.
This will not affect his start position for Saturday's sprint race, but it does mean that he will start from the back of the grid on Sunday.
The drivers are out on track and we are off and running in Q1.
The weather looks clear at the Red Bull Ring right now. It does not seem that qualifying will be affected by rain today.
We are just 10 minutes away from the start of Q1.
Yuki Tsunoda has had a number of outbursts on the team radio this year at AlphaTauri, Red Bull's sister team.
Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has now revealed that the team have hired a psychologist to help Tsunoda keep his emotions in check.
Mick Schumacher earned his first points as an F1 driver at Silverstone, and will hope that turns out to be springboard for further success.
He has been all smiles in the paddock this week.
Haas driver Mick Schumacher smiling as he talks to reporters ahead of the Austrian GP
Lewis Hamilton has finished on the podium in his last two races and appears to be finding his feet after a tough start to the season.
The Brit has seemed to be in a relaxed mood ahead of this weekend's race in Spielberg.
Lewis Hamilton has looked in a relaxed mood as he looks to get on the podium again this weekend
Max Verstappen is on course for his second successive championship, but it has not always been easy for the Dutchman.
The 24-year-old has opened up about the tough love approach his father took with him when he was growing up...
Zhou Guanyu was involved in a huge crash last weekend at Silverstone which saw his car flip over and crash into a fence.
However, he escaped uninjured, and has been cleared to race this weekend.
To read what he had to say about the incident, click the link below...
It will work very similarly to normal qualifying for a race on a Sunday.
Five drivers will be eliminated at the end of Q1, another five will be removed after Q2, leaving the final 10 drivers battling to record the quickest lap in Q3.
Qualifying is usually on a Saturday, but not this weekend.
There will be a sprint race on Saturday, which means that qualifying has been pushed forward to Friday at the Red Bull Ring.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Friday's qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.
The session will get underway at 4pm (UK time).
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