Austria – Qualifying: Valtteri Bottas Just Edges Out Lewis Hamilton

Even before the start of the qualifying session, Charles Leclerc knew he would face a penalty because his problem at the end of Free Practice 3 required a gearbox change. He therefore received a five-place grid penalty, which eventually positioned him in place. Also a victim of a problem at the end of FP3, Max Verstappen was able to get on the track without facing a penalty himself.

During the first phase of qualifying, Ferrari chose to send its two drivers on Super Softs while all their competitors used Ultra Softs. The performance gap was very small since both men managed to rank 3rd (Kimi Räikkönen) and 6th (Sebastian Vettel). The top 6 were separated by only 267 thousandths of a second, as Romain Grosjean caused an upset by slipping into 4th place.

In danger for a good part of the session, McLaren managed to save one car as Fernando Alonso ranked 11th. Nevertheless, Stoffel Vandoorne finished 16th, only seven thousandths behind Lance Stroll’s Williams. There was also a big disappointment for Sahara Force India, with Sergio Perez unable to do better than 17th. The gaps are very tight as there are only two tenths between Lance Stroll and Marcus Ericsson, and five teams lose a car at the end of this Q1.

The eliminations of Q1 are: Vandoorne, Perez, Sirotkin, Hartley, and Ericsson.

From the start of Q2, Mercedes sends a very strong message by sending both of its drivers out on Super Soft tires. They achieve superb times with Lewis Hamilton setting a new track record at 1:03.577, nearly two-tenths ahead of his teammate. The Ferraris, on Ultra Soft tires, can only assess the damage: Sebastian Vettel is then 11 thousandths behind Valtteri Bottas while Kimi Räikkönen is pushed back to four-tenths off the lead. Red Bull has adopted the same strategy as Mercedes, with Max Verstappen ranking 5th and Daniel Ricciardo 9th.

In the final test, Sebastian Vettel still managed to beat Lewis Hamilton’s benchmark but by only 33 thousandths while he was on the most favorable compound. However, the German was then put under investigation by the stewards for impeding Carlos Sainz at the exit of the first corner.

Fernando Alonso seemed capable of progressing into the final part, but a double off-track excursion in the last sector prevented him from improving, which would have allowed him to do better than 14th.

The drivers eliminated in Q2 are: Ocon, Gasly, Leclerc, Alonso, and Stroll.

No surprise, Mercedes was able to go much faster during Q3, with Valtteri Bottas clocking a 1:03.264. He managed to create a gap of five-tenths over his teammate, who made a mistake at the second corner. Romain Grosjean achieved an impressive result in the first stint, placing 4th, ahead of both Red Bulls and Sebastian Vettel.

But during the last attack, Valtteri Bottas is able to improve further to reach 1:03.130, only 19 thousandths ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The two Ferraris occupy the second row while Romain Grosjean slips in between the two Red Bulls. Carlos Sainz was able to do better than his teammate, Nico Hülkenberg.

From our special correspondent in Austria