SPIELBERG: Red Bull’s Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen took pole position for Saturday’s Austrian Grand Prix sprint race after Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton and George Russell crashed in qualifying.
The Dutch driver took the top slot with a time of one minute 04.984 seconds, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc 0.029 seconds slower.
On the second row on Saturday in a race that determines the starting grid for Sunday’s grand prix, are Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, fresh from his maiden win at Silverstone last weekend, and Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull.
Hamilton and Russell triggered a tense final two minutes of action after bringing out red flags in quick succession during the decisive final phase.
Hamilton’s car snapped out of control and speared off into the turn seven barriers while Russell suffered a similar fate minutes later into turn nine.
Russell had done enough before his exit to post the fifth fastest time with Esteban Ocon (Alpine) in sixth, ahead of Kevin Magnussen and fellow Haas driver Mick Schumacher in seventh and eighth, Fernando Alonso and Hamilton completing the top 10.
Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2022
