Verstappen on pole as both Mercedes crash out of 2022 Austrian GP qualifying

Verstappen first lap was deleted when he ran wide, while Hamilton had a bruising encounter with a yellow sausage kerb. He briefly went top on his second flying lap with a 1min 06.079sec, but was overhauled as Verstappen finally got onto the board to the audible delight of the crowd.

The times continued to tumble: Leclerc moved to the top with a 1min 05.419sec lap, 0.2sec ahead of Sainz and 0.4sec ahead of Verstappen. Those three were already in the pits by the time the chequered flag flew.

At that point, Lance Stroll, Zhou Guanyu, Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel and Nicholas Latifi were in the drop zone as the chequered flag was waved. None could improve; a relief to Pierre Gasly who ended Q1 just over two-hundredths of a second out of the drop zone, ahead of the unfortunate Ricciardo.

Vettel’s final time was deleted, consigning him to last place in qualifying, while Leclerc remained on top, followed by Sainz, Verstappen, Perez and Russell.

Q2

The frontrunners set their first times one after another: Leclerc came through fastest for a brief few seconds before Verstappen moved to the top. Russell split the Ferrari and Red Bull and then Hamilton blipped past the timing line fastest of all. His 1min 05.538sec lap was just 0.03sec faster than Verstappen’s.

Behind them, Q2 looked little better for McLaren. Norris began the session by locking up and going wide at the start of the session, then ran off at Turn 1 five minutes later.

In the bottom five with 5min to go were Sergio Perez, who had a lap deleted after running wide in Turn 9, as well as Norris who was still to set a representative time. The McLaren driver continued to run off track, going through the gravel at Turn 7 and radioing: “I’m scared to hit the brakes.”

As Hamilton remained in the pits, Leclerc went back to the top of the timesheet with a 1min 05.287sec lap, ahead of Verstappen, 0.1sec further back.

Perez escaped the bottom five as he took the chequered flag on his final flying lap. And this came at the expense of Gasly whose luck was out. He joined Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas — who will start at the back due to new engine penalties — Yuki Tsunoda and Norris in exiting the session in Q2.

The lap time deletions had the stewards working frantically, and they initially missed Perez cutting Turn 8 on the Q2 lap that got him through to the final stage. An inquiry held after the qualifying session resulted in that lap being deleted. His next best lap would only have been good enough for 13th on the grid, which is where Perez will start in the sprint race.

Q3

Hamilton abandoned his first flying lap, as Verstappen hit the top with a 1min 05.092sec lap, a tenth ahead of Leclerc, who was followed by Sainz, Perez and Russell.

Ocon followed, the first of both Alpine drivers, who had only run on medium tyres in FP1 to save their softs for qualifying.

Hamilton’s qualifying was only going to get worse as he looked to set a representative time. He lost the rear of the car in Turn 7, turned in to the slide and speared off the track, through the gravel and into the tyre barrier with a hefty thud.

The orange-clad crowd cheered, as a dazed-sounding Hamilton reported in. “I’m so sorry guys, I’m so sorry to damage the car,” he said over the radio before being taken back to the pits in the medical car.

There were five minutes remaining when qualifying resumed, but the cars wouldn’t be on track for long. For the second time in a session, a Mercedes went sliding wide off the track and into a barrier, George Russell coming to a halt in a cloud of dust, as the red flags waved once more.

The remaining eight drivers had less than three minutes remaining of the session, but the short Red Bull Ring lap meant that they all had time for a final flying lap. Leclerc initially moved to the top but nobody in Spielberg could have been in any doubt as to who ultimately claimed pole, as the orange smoke spouted from the cheering stands.

2022 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying results

*Perez’s fastest Q2 time was deleted for exceeding track limits after qualifying