The two-time Formula 1 champion and leader, Max Verstappen (Red Bull), achieved his sixth pole position of the season this Friday and will start first in the Austrian Grand Prix, the ninth effective race of the year on the category calendar that will take out on Sunday. After dominating the only free trials, the Dutchman clocked 1:04.391 in 24 laps at the Spielberg Red Bull Ring circuit and was ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc from Monegasque and the Spanish Carlos Sainz.
The fourth qualifying place corresponded to the British Lando Norris (McLaren); Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) finished fifth and sixth, respectively. The double Spanish world champion Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), third in the World Cup with 117 points to 78 behind Verstappen, will start seventh above the German Nico Hülkenberg (Haas), the French Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and the Thai Alexander Albon (Williams ), who completed the top 10 positions in the ranking.
The Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), escort of the Dutchman in the tournament positions, failed again in the classification and only obtained the 15th best time after participating only in Q1 and Q2. The Aztec driver exceeded the limits of the track in the three attempts that he had, for which the three times were taken from him and he could not enter the decisive Q3 for the fourth consecutive Grand Prix. The result is very frustrating for the Austrian team, which aspired to place its two cars at the top of the grid in the race in which it is home.
“I am very happy to be on pole position, but there is a lot of work ahead of us this weekend,” said Verstappen after taking the 26th pole of his career.
This Saturday from 11:30 a.m. the Sprint will be held, with a preliminary classification, and on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. it will be the main race in Austria, where Verstappen won three times (2018, 2019 and 2021).