F1 Austrian Grand Prix: Russell Takes Pole Position Ahead of the Ferraris. Antonelli Finishes Fourth

Mercedes driver George Russell secured pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix: the British driver, with a time of 1:06.113, finished ahead of the two Ferraris driven by Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in the official qualifying session at the Spielberg circuit.

Toward the end of the official qualifying session, in Q3, the British driver benefited from Max Verstappen’s crash on the final lap, which triggered a yellow flag period and thus prevented his teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli from making his final attempt; Antonelli will start from fourth place on the second row alongside Lewis Hamilton. This is a good start for Russell, who beat his teammate—the current world championship leader—in qualifying for the second time in a row.

Ferrari confirmed the progress it has made in recent weeks, fighting until the very end for pole position: Lewis Hamilton had to abort his first attempt in Q3 and then fell behind Leclerc, dropping to third place.

Verstappen (Red Bull) will start from fifth on the grid ahead of reigning world champion Lando Norris (McLaren), with Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Isack Hajdar (Red Bull) behind them. Lawson and Lindblad also made the top 10.

F1 Austrian Grand Prix, starting grid
Russell
Leclerc
Hamilton
Antonelli
Verstappen
Norris
Piastri
Hadjar
Lawson
Lindblad