Max Verstappen puts Red Bull on pole for Austrian Grand Prix

SPIELBERG – It was all about “surviving” for Red Bull ace Max Verstappen on Friday, even as he secured pole position for the fourth race in a row in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.

His teammate and closest title rival Sergio Perez qualified only 15th after having a lap deleted because of track limits, which was an issue with many drivers at the Red Bull Ring.

“It’s very difficult because of the track limits. We don’t do it on purpose but, with these speeds and the high-speed corners, it’s so hard to judge the white line,” said Verstappen.

“It’s always very tricky around here and the cars are big and heavy.

“We could see today that a lot of people get out. It was about surviving, even Q3 you just want the banker lap, it takes out the joy a little bit. But it was still a very good lap. So very happy to be on pole.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified second with teammate Carlos Sainz third.

“It feels good to finally have a clean qualifying again and be back on the front row. The feeling has been a bit better in the last few races and then in Q1, Q2 it was about building up to that lap in Q3,” said Leclerc, who was just 0.048 seconds behind.

“I managed to put everything that I wanted in that last lap of Q3, very close to Max. Not enough today but overall I don’t think we expected to be so close to the Red Bulls so it’s a good step forward.”

Sainz added: “I definitely felt like we’ve made some progress recently. At least for today we put ourselves in a good position for Sunday to try and get a podium with both cars.”

Lando Norris of McLaren will join Sainz on the second row after qualifying fourth.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll are fifth and sixth respectively, and Stroll’s teammate Fernando Alonso, Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly of Alpine and Alex Albon of Williams round off the top 10.

Drivers will have another qualifying on Saturday for a standalone 100km sprint race that no longer determines Sunday’s grid under a new format introduced this season and first used in Azerbaijan in April.

Off the track, Verstappen has reminded old foe Hamilton that “life is unfair” after Mercedes’ seven-time world champion suggested Formula One needed a rule change to rein in Red Bull.

Verstappen has won six of eight races so far this season and is already 69 points clear of Perez ahead of Sunday’s race.

Red Bull are unbeaten in 2023 and chasing a 10th successive victory after winning 18 of the last 19. They are 154 points clear of second-placed Mercedes.

Hamilton was concerned Red Bull’s advantage was now so great that they could already stop developing the current car to concentrate on 2024.

“I think the (governing) FIA should probably put a time when everyone is allowed to start developing next year’s car,” he said. “Say Aug 1, that’s when everybody can start so no one can get an advantage on the next year, because that sucks.”

Asked about Hamilton’s comments, Verstappen rubbed salt in the wounds.

“Life is unfair,” replied the Dutchman. “It’s not only F1. A lot of things in life are unfair so we just have to deal with it.” REUTERS, AFP