Charles Leclerc stormed to a second Formula 1 career pole position, beating Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in a thrilling Austrian Grand Prix qualifying session.
Hamilton’s front row spot is in jeopardy due to a post-session stewards investigation, as he is alleged to have blocked Kimi Raikkonen at Turn 3 in Q1.
Along with his team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Verstappen, Hamilton opted to complete Q2 on the medium compound tyre while the Ferrari pairing of Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel used the less durable soft rubber on which they will start the race.
Having finished one-two in Q2, the Ferrari pairing were the favourites for pole heading into the final part of qualifying. But Vettel would not turn a lap in Q3 – he was stranded in the garage with an air pressure fault.
Leclerc dominated the final segment of qualifying, recording two laps good enough for pole, finishing the session with a 1m03.003s benchmark.
Hamilton had occupied fourth place after the first run of Q3, but picked up a tow from Lando Norris’ McLaren on his final effort to vault to second at the chequered flag.
Verstappen could inherit a front row start if Hamilton is handed a penalty for blocking Raikkonen. The Red Bull ace leapfrogged Bottas with his final lap of the session, demoting the Finn down to fourth on the grid.
A five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change will drop Kevin Magnussen from fifth on the grid. The Haas driver edged Norris by 0.027s.
Currently set to start from fifth, Norris has equalled his career-best start achieved last weekend at Paul Ricard.
The Alfa Romeo pairing of Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi were seventh and eighth, to record the team’s overall best qualifying result of 2019 so far.
As the only driver other than Bottas not to improve on his final lap of the session, Pierre Gasly slipped to ninth place in the second Red Bull – the slowest of all drivers to set a time in Q3.
Joining Hamilton in front of the stewards is fellow Briton George Russell. The Williams driver blocked Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso in the closing stages of Q1 – Kvyat having to take avoiding action and running off track at the high-speed Turn 9.
Russell outqualified team-mate Robert Kubica in 19th and 20th, while Kvyat ended up marooned in 18th after the incident.
