Max Verstappen navigated a tricky Austrian Grand Prix qualifying session to secure pole position as the Formula 1 stewards deleted scores of lap times.
The Dutchman felt their wrath twice himself as he had laps deleted in Q1 and Q2, and swore loudly as he complained over the radio about losing those times. But he kept it in the lines when it mattered to make sure he will start Sunday's race from the front grid slot again.
That was despite a monster lap from Charles Leclerc who gave everything to topple the Red Bull racer. But he was just four-hundredths of a second slower than Verstappen in an encouraging sign for Ferrari, who also had Carlos Sainz in third place.
Lando Norris was fourth quickest as McLaren's upgrades looked good while Lewis Hamilton starts fifth, sharing the third row with Lance Stroll. He will have been pleased to out-qualify his team-mate Fernando Alonso who will line up one place behind him.
But it was another qualifying to forger for Sergio Perez who had three lap times deleted by the stewards, who were policing track limits with zero tolerance. It meant he failed to reach Q3 again, while George Russell also didn't manage to reach the top 10.
The session was red-flagged mid way through Q1 as Valtteri Bottas span at Turn 1. It looked fairly innocuous at first, but the Alfa Romeo driver struggled to get his car into gear and so the race director took action with his stricken car stuck half-way on the track.
It was not well timed for Verstappen. He was at the top of the timesheets at the time, but shortly afterwards his time was deleted as the stewards spotted that he had exceeded track limits on that hot lap.
That moved him into the bottom five, though he soon moved out without doing a thing as several others also had their times scrubbed. He needn't have worried too much, though, as when he got back out on track he swiftly made sure his place in Q2 was secure.
Nyck de Vries is under intense pressure with Helmut Marko admitting this week that it might have been a mistake for AlphaTauri to sign him. He responded by saying he wanted to prove the Red Bull adviser wrong, but didn't back up those words as he set the slowest time in qualifying.
Kevin Magnussen complained of downshift issues as he could only manage 19th on the grid, while Logan Sargeant was apologetic to his Williams team after another Q1 exit. Also in the bottom five were Zhou Guanyu and Yuki Tsunoda.
History repeated itself for Verstappen in Q2 as he again had his first flying lap of the session deleted for a track limits violation. This time he was joined by his team-mate Perez, both the Red Bull drivers pushing just a little too much for the stewards' liking.
In fact, Perez had a lap time deleted a total of three times in Q2 – meaning he did not set a time and was out. It was his fourth failure to reach the final party of qualifying in a row, heaping further pressure upon the under-fire Mexican.
Russell also missed out by going only 11th fastest in Q2. But his loss was a gain for the likes of Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly who all reached Q3 because of the Brit's misfortune.
The result sets the grid for Sunday's race, but will have no bearing on the starting order for the Saturday Sprint. That will be decided with a second, shorter qualifying session – dubbed the 'Shootout' – in the morning.
Full 2023 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying result
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull
- Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
- Carlos Sainz – Ferrari
- Lando Norris – McLaren
- Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
- Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
- Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
- Nico Hulkenberg – Haas
- Pierre Gasly – Alpine
- Alex Albon – Williams
- George Russell – Mercedes
- Esteban Ocon – Alpine
- Oscar Piastri – McLaren
- Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo
- Sergio Perez – Red Bull
- Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri
- Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo
- Logan Sargeant – Williams
- Kevin Magnussen – Haas
- Nyck de Vries – AlphaTauri
