George Russell clinches controversial Austria GP pole after Max Verstappen crashes out
It was certainly an eventful qualifying session yesterday!
Max Verstappen’s crash at the penultimate corner, leading Ferrari to celebrate a presumed pole for Charles Leclerc, only for George Russell to surge through amid the yellow flags to best him by 0.236s
Stewards looked at the incident and opted to take no further action for failing to slow sufficiently under yellow flags, while Kimi Antonelli wrongly chose to slow down and ended fourth on the grid.
Read the full report for all the madness in Spielberg:
Luke Baker28 June 2026 12:16
Austrian Grand Prix – live
Good afternoon and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of the latest F1 race – the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg.
There was plenty of dram in qualifying yesterday, which ended with George Russell on pole, so let’s get to it all
Luke Baker28 June 2026 12:11
