Austria – Qualifications: Valtteri Bottas Tames the Bull

For this ninth qualifying session, the Austrian weather was mild, with clouds but no risk of rain.

The first to scare himself during this session was Romain Grosjean, who went wide in turn 7. Although the Frenchman went through the gravel trap, he didn’t hit the wall and was able to continue his session. However, the session was quite complicated for Haas as Kevin Magnussen suffered a rear left suspension failure.

Aside from these considerations, Lewis Hamilton set a new track record with a time of 1:05:064, leaving the competition over half a second behind but with ultra-soft tires while Sebastian Vettel settled for super-soft tires. If Kimi Räikkönen also attempted to run on super-softs, he emerged in the final minutes with purple-banded tires. This allowed him to achieve the second-fastest time of the session.

Nevertheless, Williams confirmed a very complicated start to the weekend as both drivers were eliminated in Q1, with Felipe Massa in 17th and Lance Stroll in 18th. However, Stoffel Vandoorne was able to save himself by getting ahead of Jolyon Palmer in the very last minutes of the session.

The eliminated drivers are Palmer, Massa, Stroll, Ericsson, and Wehrlein. It is noteworthy that Marcus Ericsson is once again ahead of his German teammate.

Lewis Hamilton continued his momentum by setting another track record at 1:04.800. This performance was all the more exceptional as the Briton chose to achieve it on super soft tires. He is therefore implementing an offset strategy, knowing already that he will incur a five-place grid penalty.

Valtteri Bottas takes the opportunity to showcase himself with the softest available tires, allowing him to take the lead with more than a tenth of a second ahead of his teammate. Sebastian Vettel managed to improve his time on his second attempt.

Esteban Ocon managed to save himself on his last lap, maintaining 10th place with only a 47-millisecond lead over Nico Hülkenberg’s Renault. Behind the German driver, Stoffel Vandoorne closed the gap with his teammate, Fernando Alonso, but the McLaren drivers could do no better than 12th and 13th.

Daniil Kvyat is once again far behind his teammate as he finishes the session in 14th position while Carlos Sainz makes it to Q3 again, in 9th place.

BREAKING: ELIMINATED, Q2

11 HUL
12 ALO 📸
13 VAN
14 KVY
15 MAG (did not set time)#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #Quali pic.twitter.com/MIhVnj8NaG

— Formula 1 (@F1) 8 juillet /f1/actualite/22116-lewis-hamilton-sera-penalise-de-cinq-places-sur-la-grille-en-autriche.html

For the start of this Q3, both Red Bulls decided to take the lead on their home circuit by heading out first.

But it’s the two Mercedes that send a big message, with Valtteri Bottas able to be 173 thousandths ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel managed to slip between the two Mercedes, 42 thousandths off the pole time, while Kimi Räikkönen has to settle for the 4th fastest time, over half a second behind his compatriot.

But Romain Grosjean stopped on the track after the third turn due to a technical problem with his car. The yellow flag that followed froze the positions while all the drivers were trying to improve their times. Max Verstappen also made an error exiting the 7th turn, with no particular damage.

This therefore offers a second pole position for Valtteri Bottas, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen as Lewis Hamilton could not do better than 3rd and is therefore pushed back to 8th position on the grid. Romain Grosjean set the 7th fastest time while Esteban Ocon will start 9th, once again falling behind his teammate.

It should be noted that Lewis Hamilton refused to shake hands with Sebastian Vettel at the end of the interview session on the track, despite requests from Davide Valsecchi.