Verstappen rules qualifying AGAIN despite Ferrari pressure and Perez failure

Verstappen, Oostenrijk, Red Bull — Photo: © LAT Images

Austrian Grand Prix

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Verstappen rules qualifying AGAIN despite Ferrari pressure and Perez failure

The reigning champion took yet another pole position for Sunday's race

Jay Winter

Friday 30 June 2023 18:18 Updated: 18:23

Max Verstappen qualified on pole at Red Bull's home Grand Prix in the Friday qualifying session with a rapid 1:04.391, 0.048s ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and 0.190s ahead of Carlos Sainz.

Lando Norris finished P4 as he hopes to grab his first podium of the season, while Lewis Hamilton beat out the Aston Martins to qualify fifth.

Track limits was the phrase of the day in Austria as countless drivers had their lap times deleted for leaving the tarmac at the Red Bull ring.

Q1 - As it happened

Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas brought out an early red flag in Q1 after he spun in turn 1 while chasing Red Bull's Sergio Perez.

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Kevin Magnussen was then knocked out of Q1 which he blamed on mechanical issues with his downshifting. His boss Guenther Steiner put the Dane's exit down to being too careful in some corners, saying he should've made it through.

Williams' Logan Sargeant was annoyed with himself over the radio for being too passive on the final corner.

Meanwhile, in a week where he finds himself under a lot of pressure, AlphaTauri's Nyck de Vries qualified plum last for Sunday's race.

Right at the death, Russell put down a clutch final lap to take himself through to Q2.

The last Red Bull driver to fail to reach Q3 on three consecutive occasions was David Coulthard in 2008

Q2

Sergio Perez, who was too ill to show up the track on Thursday for the media, failed to qualify for Q3 for a fourth consecutive time. The Red Bull driver had two lap times deleted despite being explicitly warned by his race engineer to watch out. The Mexican will start P15.

George Russell was another star to get knocked out in Q2 after he failed to lay down a quick enough time to progress, qualifying P11.

Oscar Piastri was another victim of Q2 and will be wishing McLaren has upgraded his MCL60 like they had his team-mates, Lando Norris. The Australian had to watch the Briton progress to Q3 in P3 while he finished P13.

Esteban Ocon could only go 12th fastest while his team-mate Pierre Gasly made it through to Q3.

A Nico Hulkenberg banker lap saw the German take advantage of his opponents' deleted lap times, making his way to Q3 for the fifth time this season.