Max Verstappen clinched pole position for 2021 Styrian Grand Prix by 0.194 seconds from Valtteri Bottas in a lively Qualifying session.
Verstappen finished second fastest to Lewis Hamilton in FP3 but ultimately nailed Qualifying when it mattered most in a closely fought contest throughout, as he took pole ahead of Bottas by 0.194s although the latter has a three place grid penalty which promotes Hamilton to second on the grid.
Now here is a full roundup of Saturday’s F1 action at Red Bull Ring, Austria.
FP3
A quiet start to the day saw Haas’ Mick Schumacher set the initial benchmark of 1m 11.238 as teammate, Nikita Mazepin saw two lap times deleted for exceeding track limits.
Several drivers soon afterwards came out with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon often trading fastest laps on medium tyres, whilst Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen saw his first flier of 1m 06.778 deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn Nine.
Bottas went quickest in the 23rd minute on soft tyres with 1m 06.212 before improving his benchmark time a lap later to 1m 06.043, only for Verstappen to better his lap time by 0.492 seconds.
Mazepin caused the only major concern of the session just before the half hour mark as he lost the rear-end of his Haas and spun out of Turn One, as Verstappen found himself fastest ahead of Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, Hamilton and Bottas.
Verstappen however improved to 1m 04.971 on his second flier but when it came to the soft-tyre qualifying simulations, Hamilton ultimately finished fastest overall in FP3 with 1m 04.369 as Verstappen settled for second 0.204s behind after seeing his final lap deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 10.
Bottas was third quickest ahead of Sergio Perez as Tsunoda and Gasly finished fifth and sixth for AlphaTauri, ahead of Charles Leclerc, Alonso, Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel who round out the top ten.
Lando Norris meanwhile was 19th quickest on medium tyres after his qualifying simulation lap time was deleted, following misuse of track limits.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m 04.369 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.204 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | + 0.463 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.657 |
| 5 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.781 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.929 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.971 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 1.031 |
| 9 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.076 |
| 10 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 1.123 |
| 11 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | + 1.187 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.307 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 1.329 |
| 14 | George Russell | Williams | + 1.494 |
| 15 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | + 1.573 |
| 16 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 1.623 |
| 17 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.747 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 1.750 |
| 19 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 2.285 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | + 2.323 |
Qualifying
Q1
A quiet start saw Williams’ Nicholas Latifi set the early pace on 1m 05.963 before the faster teams hit the track with Verstappen going quickest in the eighth minute with 1m 04.489.
Latifi eventually found time on his second lap to go eighth fastest to leave Antonio Giovinazzi, George Russell, Kimi Raikkonen, Schumacher and Mazepin in the elimination zone with five minutes left.
Eventually only Giovinazzi and Russell escaped as Latifi and Ocon were knocked out in 16th and 17th as Raikkonen, Schumacher and Mazepin all failed to improve on their initial placings in 18-20th from where they were at the conclusion of everyone’s opening runs.
Q2
Bottas, Hamilton and Verstappen all opted for a medium tyre Q2 strategy whilst Perez went for softs yet it was Gasly who led after the opening runs with a 1m 04.429, as Leclerc, Vettel, Russell, Ricciardo and Giovinazzi occupied the provisional elimination placings.
Hamilton meanwhile locked up on his first set of mediums which forced him to use another set to secure safety on 1m 04.626, as Perez finished Q2 quickest with 1m 04.197.
At the checkered flag, only Leclerc escaped the drop as Russell finished 11th quickest and missed out on Q3 by just 0.008s ahead of Vettel as Carlos Sainz fell to 13th, ahead of Ricciardo and Giovinazzi.
Tweeting after the session, Russel warned that it’s ‘game on’ for tomorrow’s race.
Eight. Thousandths. Game on tomorrow. 👊 pic.twitter.com/usucr2b8wT
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) June 26, 2021
Q3
Hamilton opted for three runs on the soft tyres as he dashed out of the pit-lane and set the early benchmark of 1m 04.205, just as everyone filed out of the pits with Verstappen setting an eventual pole time on his first flier of 1m 03.841.
Hamilton found just 0.138s on his second flier but ultimately used up too much rubber in the dash for space on his final run, as he failed to improve and even ran wide at Turn Nine to compound his misery with Bottas jumping to second at the flag.
Norris finished fourth ahead of Perez with the pair plus Hamilton promoted up a grid position due to Bottas’ three-place grid penalty for a spin in FP2 yesterday (25 June), as Gasly, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Alonso and Stroll rounded out the top ten.
Tsunoda however was adjudged to had impeded Bottas during the session and was hit with a three-place grid penalty, dropping him to 11th and meant that Alonso and Stroll were promoted to eighth and ninth with Russell now starting tenth on a free choice of tyre.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 03.841 |
| 2* | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | + 0.194 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.226 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.279 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.327 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.395 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.631 |
| 8* | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.673 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.733 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.867 |
| 11 | George Russell | Williams | 1m 04.671 |
| 12 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 0.040 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.129 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 0.137 |
| 15 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | + 0.242 |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1m 05.175 |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.042 |
| 18 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | + 0.254 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 0.866 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | + 1.017 |
*Bottas will start fifth after being handed a three-place grid penalty following a pit-lane spin in FP2.
*Tsunoda will start 11th after getting a three-place grid penalty for impeding Bottas in Qualifying.