Verstappen starts first in Austrian GP

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen took pole position for Saturday’s Austrian Grand Prix, round 11 of the 2022 Formula One World Championship, by setting the fastest time in the Friday followingnoon qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring.

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The Austrian Grand Prix is ​​the second round of the 2022 season to see a qualifying race, with the qualifying session taking place on Friday followingnoon, and it determines the starting order of Saturday’s race, the short qualifying race.

Throughout this qualifying session, there was a good level of performance from the Mercedes team, especially with Lewis Hamilton who showed a competitive pace while being in the top three at the start.

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But while Hamilton didn’t time well on his first lap in Q3, he did well on his second lap, right into Turn 8, where he lost control of his car as the rear slashed and crashed. To raise red flags and stop the session with 5 and a half minutes remaining.

Before the red flags were raised, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fastest, with a time of 1:05.092, 0.091s ahead of Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc, with Carlos Sainz third.

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With testing continuing, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell immediately headed to the track to complete a fast lap, but as he exited the final corner, the Briton lost control of the car and had a violent crash that raised the red flags once more with two and a half minutes remaining. Qualifying session.

After that, qualifying continued, and Verstappen extended his lead by clocking 1:04.984 to secure a pole position in Saturday’s qualifying race at Red Bull Ring, with a narrow edge over the Ferrari pair.

Charles Leclerc came in second, 0.029s behind Verstappen, while Carlos Sainz came third, just 0.082s off the lead.

Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez was content with fourth place, ahead of Russell, whose timing before the accident was sufficient for fifth, while Albin Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were sixth and ninth, separated by Haas duo Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher, while Lewis Hamilton completed the ten places. First.

The Alpha Tauri duo were unable to qualify in the top ten, with Pierre Gasly being the fastest driver to retire in Q2 Q2, with only 11th, with him within 0.009 seconds only from qualifying for the third division within the top ten.

As for his colleague Yuki Tsunoda, the Japanese settled in 14th place, ahead of the McLaren duo who went through a disastrous session at the Red Bull Ring.

Daniel Ricciardo was unable to qualify for the second section of the qualifying session, and was satisfied with only 16th place, while Lando Norris was in the second section of the session. However, the Briton suffered greatly in that section, with his sprint timing deleted due to deviating from the lane limits, or making braking errors and slipping in the front section, with Norris revealing that he was concerned regarding pressing the brakes, which prompted questions regarding the return of the brake problems he suffered. Including McLaren in winter testing.

Norris did not clock in the second division, so he will start from 15th in Saturday’s qualifying race.

Despite last week’s crash at Silverstone, Alexander Albon, who is using the updated Williams, continued to perform well, as he finished 12th, with teammate Nicholas Latifi only 19th.

Valtteri Bottas is using a new power unit this round, which means he will start last in Sunday’s main race, but he finished 13th to secure a place in Saturday’s qualifying race, while teammate Guanyu Gu, who He narrowly escaped from a violent accident He was exposed in the British Grand Prix, from 18th place.

Once once more, the qualifying session was a disappointment for Aston Martin, with Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel in pole position. 17 And20 Just.