Max Verstappen opened Austrian Grand Prix weekend in confident form once more, claiming pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the Red Bull Ring. The Red Bull driver was commanding in Spielberg, beating the Mercedes of George Russell into second and the McLaren’s of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri into third and fourth. Lewis Hamilton was sixth for Mercedes.
In the truncated sprint qualifying, just one lap in Q3 for each driver was to be decisive, with Verstappen having been quickest in the opening two sessions. Hamilton and Russell led the field out as the clock ticked down, with Russell setting the pace but he was edged out by Norris, before Verstappen once more closed it out with no little control in a time of 1min 04.686sec almost a tenth up on Russell, to claim the Dutchman’s eighth sprint pole.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc had an engine issue leaving the pit lane and did not have time to do a final hot lap, finishing in 10th, his teammate Carlos Sainz was fifth. Sergio Pérez was seventh for Red Bull and Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly eighth and ninth for Alpine.
Kevin Magnussen was in 11th for Haas, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso in 12th and 13th for Aston Martin, Yuki Tsunoda in 14th for RB and Logan Sargeant in 15th for Williams.
Daniel Ricciardo was in 16th for RB, Nico Hülkenberg 17th for Haas, Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou in 18th and 20th for Sauber and Alex Albon in 19th for Williams.
Verstappen leads the world championship by 69 points from Norris, with 13 meetings remaining after Austria. The 100km dash, over 24 laps, which takes place on Saturday, is the third sprint race of the season after China and Miami, with three more to follow later in the year.
On Friday in Austria the Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, attempted to defuse another row with Verstappen’s father, Jos. Verstappen Sr had claimed Horner had tried to veto him from driving the 2012 Red Bull F1 car in the Legends parades set to take place at the Red Bull Ring this weekend. Verstappen accused Horner of being childish, stating: “I’m completely fed up with him”.
Horner denied he had ordered any veto but was clearly frustrated that the subject was once more overshadowing the performance of his team. “I’ve never had an issue with any of our drivers’ fathers in the past,” he said. “Whatever Jos’s issues are, I’ve really got nothing to comment on.”
Verstappen has always played a key part in his son’s career and his relationship with Horner had already broken down earlier this year, it appears now irrevocably. After Horner had been accused of inappropriate behaviour by a female employee, a charge that was later dismissed by an internal investigation, Verstappen insisted his position as team principal was untenable and warned Horner’s presence would tear the team apart.
“I can’t control relationships with drivers’ fathers.” Horner added in Austria. “I don’t think it is really helpful to continue talking on the topic of Jos.”
