Max Verstappen, pole sprint against Norris; Sainz, 5th and Alonso, eliminated in SQ2

Max Verstappen dominated Friday’s short classification at the Austrian F1 GPwhich served to fix the starting grid for the sprint race that will be held this Saturday before the ‘qualy’ and where points will be distributed to the top 8 finishers.

The championship leader and current three-time world champion, again without a mistake, managed to beat both McLaren: Norris was 2nd in 93 thousandths after discovering his last lap, when he seemed to be too far to get close to Max. AND Oscar Piastri was third at 0”301. Only Lando was able to keep up with Verstappen, but the Dutchman was unable to stop his pulse after a turn and hit the target again.

Max was higher than one lap throughout the session, unlike last week in Barcelona, ​​​​​​where Lando Norris He got the pole position in the extremis by only 20 thousandths. This time, on the home route red bull, The current king of F1, facing his ‘Orange tide’, ruthlessly prevailed in a good final battle that will serve as a good aperitif before the sprint race, and above all, the long classification this Saturday afternoon.

Sainz, 5th, away from Max

Yes in Barcelona Verstappen and Norris, with his Red Bull and McLarenproved to have three tenths more of the decisive moment compared to Mercedes and Ferrari, This time the distances in red and silver arrows are repeated. Russell was 4th at 0″368, again the best Mercedes. This time Sainz slipped between two cars of Brackley with the 5th best time, at 0″440, with hamilton 6th, 0.584 behind the best, again behind George, about whom he already said in Monaco with some controversial statements that he could not beat him by more than one lap this year.

A small step forward is expected Ferrari, which should have been a bit better than Barcelona, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ but the movie is very similar. In such an evenly matched F1, the characteristics of each track will vary in that order and change that battle at the top, but at the time things are very similar to the Circuit and those who have not moved from there is Max and Norris. again, Verstappen He marked the differences with his hands a red bull that he is the only one who can pilot the wire to be very fast. Meanwhile, his teammate ‘Checo’ remained far behind, in 7th position at 1″322.

Problems for Leclerc

The Monegasque had trouble exiting the pits and saw his car stall. With 1’11” to go, he started his Ferrari and had to do the warm-up lap very quickly, with no time to prepare his turn properly. And finally, he didn’t have time to put a spin on the time table. Leclerc will start 10th behind Hamilton (6th), Pérez (7th) and the two Alpines, with Ocon 8th and Gasly 9th.

Fernando Alonso, complicated weekend

Fernando Alonso He had already warned a week ago in Barcelona that he would have to suffer at the Catalan track and the subsequent events in Austria and Silverstone. In Barcelona he managed to be 11th in qualifying and started 10th on the grid, a better result than he expected. But he suffered in the race and was 12th. And in Austria, one time he suffered more.

The man from Oviedo didn’t look comfortable and Stroll was a lap faster. Stroll was 12th, 0.090 from the cut, while Alonso was 13th, 0.120 from 10th place, with both Aston Martins looking caught. by Magnussen’s Haas and the two Alpineswho entered the SQ3 with a car that in recent weeks has improved its performance despite not having any new features.

In the sprint race, Fernando Alonso will have a hard time competing to be in the top 8 and score some points. The sprint event will be more of a test for the Asturian, with the clear aim of getting the car back safely to the garage to compete in the classification, a ‘worthy’ in which it will be necessary to see if he chooses some aggressive or experimental changes of settings that will allow him to get closer to the long-awaited but difficult Q3.