2021 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX: QUALIFYING REVIEW

Max Verstappen takes third consecutive pole!

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took his third pole in as many races to give his team the advantage going into the Austrian Grand Prix. Although, the Dutchman had a few nervous moments as Lando Norris put in a smashing hot lap in the dying moments of the final qualifying session to start a career best P2 ahead of the other Red Bull of Sergio Pérez and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

But it was George Russell, though, who outshone his peers by making a shock Q3 appearance with his Williams that has not scored a point in almost two years now. Russell would be starting a career best P10 for Williams and looking forward to scoring his first points with the Wantage-based team.

With Verstappen on pole and Norris and Pérez behind him, it will definitely be advantage Red Bull going into Sunday, with McLaren showcasing superior straight line speed that just might make it that much trickier for Mercedes to catch up to their title rivals.

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Qualifying 1 – (Eliminated – Kimi Räikkönen, Esteban Ocon, Nicholas Latifi, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin)

The fans were back at the Red Bull Ring and it was a different atmosphere, something that had been missing for over a year due to COVID restrictions.

It was the Haas of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin got the session underway, but it was Max Verstappen’s entry on the track that had the fans erupt with cheers. The Dutchman didn’t disappoint as he went P1, right on the pace from the start. The timings slowly started coming thick and fast at the short Austrian track with Lando Norris pipping both Mercedes and the (shock) Alpine of Fernando Alonso to go P2.

As the final timings came through, it was another shock for the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, as the Frenchman was knocked out of Q1 for the second race running along with Kimi Räikkönen, Nicholas Latifi and the Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

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Qualifying 2 – (Eliminated – Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso and Antonio Giovinazzi)

Sergio Pérez got the second qualifying session running by going top of the table with a 1:04.554s. He stayed on the top for some time and was the only car on the track for almost five minutes, before a train of cars came out led by Hamilton.

Hamilton went P1 momentarily before Verstappen displaced him with a 1:04.208s, but bettered it with a 1:03.927s with his final hot lap. However, it was George Russell who put in a smashing lap to make it to Q3 for the first time with Williams, with both the Ferraris suffering a shock elimination from Q2. Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo and Antonio Giovinazzi were the others who missed out on the top 10 shootout.

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Qualifying 3 – Verstappen holds off a charging Norris

The Aston Martin duo of Vettel and Stroll got the session underway and were quickly followed by a flying McLaren that saw Lando Norris put in an impressive 1:03.958s go P1 but it was the championship leader Max Verstappen who took provisional pole with a 1:03.720s.

As the cars came out for the final hot laps, Lando Norris drove the wheels off his McLaren to take P2 behind Verstappen which gave the young Brit his first front row start missing out on pole by four one-hundredths of a second. Pérez slotted in P3 in front of the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas, who were followed by the AlphaTauri pair of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda with Vettel, Stroll and Russell rounding out the top 10. Vettel, though, will be under investigation and might take a penalty due to an incident in Q2 that saw the birthday boy hamper Fernando Alonso’s final Q2 lap.

The Final Starting Grid

1. Max Verstappen
2. Lando Norris
3. Sergio Pérez
4. Lewis Hamilton
5. Valtteri Bottas
6. Pierre Gasly
7. Yuki Tsunoda
8. Sebastian Vettel*
9. Lance Stroll
10. George Russell
11. Carlos Sainz
12. Charles Leclerc
13. Daniel Ricciardo
14. Fernando Alonso
15. Antonio Giovinazzi
16. Kimi Räikkönen
17. Esteban Ocon
18. Nicholas Latifi
19. Mick Schumacher
20. Nikita Mazepin
*Awaiting steward’s decision