F1 Austrian GP: Max Verstappen charges to pole as Sergio Perez has another qualifying disaster
A vi🤡tal improvement on his second lap of Q3 ensured a fourth successive pole in 2023 for Verstappen as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc missed out by j♔ust 0.048s.
Carlos Sainz was 0.190s adrift of Verstappen in third, ahead of Lando Norris, who put his upgraded McLaren on the second row with a sensational lap for fourt๊h.
Lewis Hamilton was fifth-fastest, whi🌠le Mercedes teammate George Russell was knocked out in Q2 and will start Sunday’s main race at the Red Bull Ring from 11th.
In sharp contrast🌼 to Verstappen, teammate Perez had another qualifying to forget and wi♚ll line up only 15th for Red Bull’s home grand prix.
It marks the fourth weekend on the trot that Perez, who is 6💫9 points behind Verstappen in the championship st🔴andings, has failed to reach Q3.
The Mexican's qualifying was undone 🐭by having three consecutive laps deleted for track limits𒈔 in Q2.
Lance Stroll out-qualified Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso for only the second tim🤡e this season as he pipped the two-time world champion to sixth.
Nico Hulkenberg claimed eighth place in his Haas, ahead of Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, who completed the top-10 for Alpine a🧔nd Williams respectively.
There was more disappointment for AlphaTauri’s under-pressure Nyck de Vries, who will start Sunday’s grand prix last after 💮ending up with the slowest🃏 time in qualifying.
Saturday's action will be dedicated to the st꧂andalone F1 sprint, before th💞e main event on Sunday.
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