F1: Verstappen wins pole for Austria Sprint Race
–by Mark Cipolloni–
World Driving Champion Max Verstappen has backed up his pole position for Sunday’s Austrian GP Formula 1 race with a pole position for today’s Sprint Race.
Despite being balked in Turn 3, Verstappen’s lap of 1m04.440s beat his teammate Sergio Perez by a massive 0.493s to take pole on the drying track.
That was outstanding from Verstappen. Phenomenal performance from the two-time world champion.
Christian Horner was not very impressed with Perez, after he exceeded track limits three times in Q2 yesterday and failed to make it into Q3. But this will leave him in a much better mood, with his drivers set to line up alongside each other in today’s Sprint.
Lando Norris was third in the upgraded McLaren while Nico Hulkenberg was an excellent 4th for the minnow Haas team.
Carlos Sainz Jr. rounded out the top-5 for Ferrari.
7-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton was a dejected man after being knocked out in Q1 and will start 18th.
Sprint Qualifying Results
| POS. | DRIVER | NAT. | TEAM | SQ1 | SQ2 | SQ3 | BEHIND |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | NED | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1m06.236s | 1m05.371s | 1m04.440s | 0.000 |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Oracle Bull Racing | 1m06.924s | 1m05.836s | 1m04.933s | 0.493 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team | 1m06.723s | 1m05.699s | 1m05.010s | 0.570 |
| 4 | Nico Hulkenberg | GER | MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | 1m06.548s | 1m06.091s | 1m05.084s | 0.644 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari | 1m06.187s | 1m05.434s | 1m05.136s | 0.696 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari | 1m07.061s | 1m05.673s | 1m05.245s | 0.805 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant | 1m06.611s | 1m05.759s | 1m05.258s | 0.818 |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant | 1m06.569s | 1m05.914s | 1m05.347s | 0.907 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 1m06.840s | 1m05.604s | 1m05.366s | 0.926 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | DEN | MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | 1m06.629s | 1m05.730s | 1m05.912s | 1.472 |
| 11 | Alex Albon | THA | Williams Racing | 1m06.892s | 1m06.152s | – | 1.712 |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 1m06.873s | 1m06.360s | – | 1.920 |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | JPN | Scuderia AlphaTauri | 1m0.6.896s | 1m06.369s | – | 1.929 |
| 14 | Nyck de Vries | NED | Scuderia AlphaTauri | 1m06.704s | 1m06.593s | – | 2.153 |
| 15 | George Russell | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1m06.653s | No Time | – | |
| 16 | Zhou Guanyu | CHN | Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake | 1m07.062s | – | – | 2.622 |
| 17 | Oscar Piastri | AUS | McLaren F1 Team | 1m07.106s | – | – | 2.666 |
| 18 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1m07.282s | – | – | 2.842 |
| 19 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake | 1m07.291s | – | – | 2.851 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | USA | Williams Racing | 1m07.426s | – | – | 2.986 |