Mercedes driver George Russell took pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix by qualifying on his last legs ahead of the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, moments after Red Bullโs Max Verstappen crashed out of Q3.
The drivers were attacking their second and final run in the shootout from pole when Verstappen lost control of his car at Turn Nine and crashed into the barriers, bringing out yellow flags and threatening to derail for many laps.
While Kimi Antonelli, who held provisional pole after the opening laps of Q3, fell back and failed to improve, his teammate Russell went through the yellows (insisting afterwards that he picked up) and went a couple of tenths faster than Leclerc and Hamilton, who were ahead of Verstappen on track and also found time.
The result leaves Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton and Antonelli in the provisional top four on the grid for Sundayโs race, ahead of Verstappen, McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, second Red Bull Isak Hajjar and Racing Bulls Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.
Pierre Gasly threatened to push Verstappen into the drop zone late in Q2, but he ended up missing four hundredths of a second in 11th place, followed by the Audi and Haas drivers and his Alpine teammate Colapinto, who was seen running wide at Turn 1.
Williamsโ difficult season continued with a double Q1 retirement, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon finishing 17th and 18th respectively โ the Spaniard himself missing out on a Q2 spot by just hundredths after slipping through the final corner on his final lap.
Just behind them, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas had to settle for P19 and P20 for Cadillac, whose package of major updates failed to propel them further into the Formula One midfield, which was admittedly not helped by an incident-filled Friday for the American team.
Finally, as expected given their struggles in 2026, Aston Martin bring up the rear with Fernando Alonso overtaking Lance Stroll for 21st place โ both drivers no doubt keen to see the teamโs major developments promised as soon as possible.
More to follow