Max Verstappen confidently made his mark at the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, securing the top spot for Saturday’s sprint race at the Red Bull Ring. In Spielberg, the Red Bull racer exhibited dominance, outperforming Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri of McLaren, descending to the second and third positions. Meanwhile, George Russell of Mercedes was in fourth place, with Lewis Hamilton in sixth.
The condensed sprint qualifying consisted of a pivotal lap in Q3 for every competitor. Verstappen had already shown his speed in the first two rounds. Hamilton and Russell were the initial front-runners as time was running out. Russell initially set the speed but was surpassed by Norris, only to be bested once again by Verstappen. The Dutch racer managed to finish confidently with a time of 1min 04.686sec, nearly a tenth faster than Russell, marking his eighth sprint pole.
Charles Leclerc of Ferrari faced an engine glitch while exiting the pit lane and lacked the time to attempt a final speedy lap, eventually landing in 10th place. His teammate, Carlos Sainz landed in fifth place. The seventh position went to Sergio Pérez of Red Bull, while Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly of Alpine bagged the eighth and ninth spots.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen took the 11th place, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso secured 12th and 13th positions for Aston Martin, while Yuki Tsunoda and Logan Sargeant finished 14th and 15th for Red Bull and Williams respectively.
RB’s Daniel Ricciardo placed 16th, Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg got the 17th position, Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou obtained 18th and 20th spots respectively, and Williams’ Alex Albon secured 19th.
In the world championship ranking, Verstappen currently leads with a 69-point lead over Norris, with 13 more races to go post-Austria. This 24-lap, 100km dash scheduled for Saturday is the season’s third sprint race, followed by China and Miami, with three more upcoming later this year.
Last Friday, a dispute broke out in Austria involving Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull, and Jos Verstappen, the father of one of the racers. Prior to the anticipated Legends Parade at the Red Bull Ring, Jos claimed Horner tried to prevent him from getting behind the wheels of the 2012 Red Bull F1 car. Jos hinted at his frustrations with Horner, labelling his actions as immature and expressing his exasperation.
In response, Horner denied any such blockage from his end and expressed his annoyance on this matter taking centre stage over his team’s performance. Highlighting his history of harmonious relations with drivers’ fathers, Horner stated he had nothing to comment on Jos’s grievances.
Jos has always maintained a pivotal role in his son’s career journey. However, it appears their rapport with Horner has deteriorated recently, potentially beyond repair. When allegations of improper conduct were brought against Horner by a female staff member, which an internal investigation later dismissed, Jos had held that Horner’s position as the team’s principal was untenable. Furthermore, he cautioned that Horner’s continued involvement could obliterate the team’s unity.
In Austria, Horner expressed his inability to manage personal relationships with his drivers’ fathers, adding that it wouldn’t be productive to extend the discussion with Jos.