George Russell boosted his world championship ambitions with a last-gasp pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix, despite a yellow flag hampering him when Max Verstappen ran into the wall at the penultimate corner.
A dramatic conclusion saw the Briton first on the grid ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in second and third. Kimi Antonelli, the championship leader in the other Mercedes, was fourth fastest.
The stewards ‘noted’ a possible ‘yellow-flag infringement’ but Russell celebrated as if he expected to keep hold of his advantage – a hope that was vindicated when the stewards cleared him of any transgression. It was the Briton’s second pole in succession as he tries to close his 50-point deficit to Antonelli.
‘It was such an amazing lap and I had a big lift (for the yellow),’ said Russell. ‘I lost time. It was a yellow flag, not a double yellow, so it should be OK. It was a 100-metre lift.’
George Russell celebrates putting himself front of the grid in Austria
Verstappen caused the controversy when he went off at the penultimate corner. The Dutchman still qualified fifth for Red Bull.
At this point, Leclerc was first on the timing screens and celebrations started in the Ferrari garage, only for Russell to usurp the Monegasque. Russell’s margin was a hefty 0.236sec, taking his 11th career pole position.
Hamilton, who made a mistake in his first flying lap of Q3, recovered well as he tries to build on his win in Spain a fortnight ago and improve on his 41-point gap to Antonelli.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will start sixth and seventh for McLaren.
Another embarrassing day for Aston Martin. Struggling all season, they again sat bottom of the timing screens. Both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were more than three seconds off the pace, a damning stat made all the more so by the Red Bull Ring having the shortest lap time of all tracks.
Max Verstappen’s late crash dialled up the drama – and he still managed to qualify fifth
A discernible upturn in their fortunes is hard to detect despite billionaire owner Lance Stroll’s huge injection into the project. To be behind Cadillac, in their first season, is a clear embarrassment to them.
Alonso took to the radio to claim the team are ‘getting closer’ – to what exactly is unclear.
It is hardly much better for Williams, whose team principal James Vowles had pledged to make this season their one of renewed success under the revamped regulations and after he had ironed out problems he encountered on his arrival three years ago.
Despite those high hopes, Carlos Sainz qualified only 17th, a place ahead of team-mate Alex Albon.
