Valtteri Bottas has taken his second career pole position, in Austria, beating Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel. A penalty for Hamilton means he will start down in 8th after ending the session a disappointing 3rd.
Q1
Hamilton set the pace in Q1 but his teammate and both Ferraris set their times on supersofts. After a difficult Friday, Sauber made little progress in qualifying and both drivers dropped out in Q1 so will start from the back of the grid tomorrow.
After an incredible podium last time out, Williams were off form and neither Massa or Stroll managed to get into the next session. Meanwhile, McLaren were pleased to see both drivers reach Q2, knocking Palmer out of qualifying.
Out in Q1:
- Palmer
- Massa
- Stroll
- Ericsson
- Wehrlein
Q2
Going into qualifying with a gearbox penalty, Hamilton opted to set his Q2 time on the supersofts so he could be on different tyres to those around him at the start of the race. This may give him a potential advantage in the first stint tomorrow. He had no trouble making it through on this set.
After suffering a suspension failure in the opening session of qualifying, Magnussen didn’t go out in Q2, despite making it through in Q1. His teammate Grosjean put in a strong lap to secure a place in the top ten shootout.
Kvyat had a tough session and ended 14th, he was joined by the two McLarens of Alonso and Vandoorne, who are 12th and 13th respectively. Hulkenberg narrowly missed out on a place in the final session and he will start the race in 11th.
Out in Q2:
- Hulkenberg
- Alonso
- Vandoorne
- Kvyat
- Magnussen
Q3
With Hamilton making a mistake on his opening lap of the session, Bottas took full advantage of this to go fastest and secure provisional pole. Vettel split the two Mercedes with second, whilst his teammate went 4th fastest.
Verstappen messed up his run and went 6th fastest, behind his teammate. He went straight back out again on a fresh set of tyres but couldn’t make enough time to displace his teammate.
Just as everyone was on their final runs trying to improve, Grosjean stopped on track with a power unit issue. This brought out yellow flags and effectively ended the session. Another mistake for Verstappen saw him spin at turn 8 and run into the gravel trap.
Q3 Results:
- Bottas
- Vettel
- Hamilton
- Raikkonen
- Ricciardo
- Verstappen
- Grosjean
- Perez
- Ocon
- Sainz
The Grid
With a 5-place penalty for his gearbox change, Hamilton drops to eighth to start the race. Aside from this, the rest of the grid will stay the same, therefore the provisional grid is:
Bottas, Vettel; Raikkonen, Ricciardo; Verstappen, Grosjean; Perez, Hamilton; Ocon, Sainz; Hulkenberg, Alonso; Vandoorne, Kvyat; Magnussen, Palmer; Massa, Stroll; Ericsson, Wehrlein.