SPIELBERG • Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton is relishing the rainy days after storming to pole position in difficult qualifying conditions at the Red Bull Ring yesterday, more than a second ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

The six-time world champion put his team on pole for the first-ever Steiermark Grand Prix today, at the same track as last week's Austrian Grand Prix which was won by his teammate Valtteri Bottas.

The Briton, who dominated a lively qualifying session delayed 46 minutes by heavy rain, was 1.216sec faster than Verstappen, who joins him on the front row for the second race of the season.

"Honestly I am happy. I love these days," said Hamilton, who struggled in practice on Friday.

"What a tricky day, the weather's obviously incredibly difficult out there for us. A lot of the time you can't even see where you're going.

"I had one big aquaplane moment the lap before the last, which definitely had my heart in my mouth, but I was able to improve on the last lap which was nice and clean.

"It would be better for us if it was dry but I'm grateful for the rain, as always, and we'll prepare as a team for both conditions."

It was his third pole success at the Red Bull Ring, the 89th of his career and confirmed his reputation as a great driver in wet and treacherous rain-swept conditions.

The battle was between him and Verstappen, with the Dutchman going fastest two minutes from the end, but Hamilton slapped him down again with a final effort of 1min 19.273sec.

Verstappen also felt the effects of the conditions, which forced the cancellation of the third practice yesterday before qualifying started.

The 22-year-old, who did not finish last weekend's race due to technical issues with his car, said: "Overall, it was a good qualifying but in Q3 it was raining a lot more.

"It seems we were struggling a bit more in the really wet conditions. I was aquaplaning a lot more. You can't see a thing, it is hard to see the braking zones but that is the same for everyone.

"It was just very tricky out there. The last lap was a bit better but I don't think it was enough to beat Lewis. I think in the dry we can have a good shot at it."

McLaren's Spanish driver Carlos Sainz finished third while Bottas was fourth in the second Mercedes.

"It feels amazing as this was probably the toughest qualifying I've ever had as a driver," said Sainz after his best qualifying finish in the McLaren. "There was so much aquaplaning it was crazy.

"I will have Alex (Albon) and Valtteri behind tomorrow, so it will be a tough first few laps but hopefully I can settle into my pace."

Behind them are Renault's Esteban Ocon and McLaren's Lando Norris, who finished third last weekend in his first podium.

The Briton, however, picked up a three-place grid penalty during practice on Friday for ignoring yellow flags and will start in ninth today.

That will elevate Albon, who was seventh in the second Red Bull, Pierre Gasly of Alpha Tauri in eighth and Daniel Ricciardo, ninth in the second Renault, but leaves Sebastian Vettel 10th in the leading Ferrari on another difficult day for the Italian team.

His teammate Charles Leclerc, who was second last week, did not make it out of Q2 and will start in 11th spot today.

"The main problem was we were just not quick enough, 1.8 seconds off (from Hamilton in Q2), we're just too slow," said Leclerc.

F1 managing director Ross Brawn said he was looking forward to a bright and dry race day.

"Austria is always a challenging circuit to come to, weather-wise," he said. "And we've been here before with these sort of conditions.

"But mainly we are just so pleased to be here, even if the weather is lousy.

"But tomorrow looks fine."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

STEIERMARK GRAND PRIX

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