Spielberg bei Knittelfeld (Austria) (AFP)

Finland's Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) will start in pole position alongside his British teammate Lewis Hamilton in the first Grand Prix of the Formula 1 season in Austria on Sunday.

Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Briton Lando Norris (McLaren) won the second row after qualifying on Saturday at the Red Bull Ring.

The first 2020 qualifiers were even more complicated than expected for Ferrari, with Monegasque Charles Leclerc 7th and German Sebastian Vettel 11th only on the grid.

On one of the shortest circuits of the season (4.318 km), the time difference between Mercedes, six-time defending champion drivers and manufacturers, and the others is abysmal, with 5/10 between Bottas and Hamilton on one side and Verstappen the other.

The third row goes to the Thai Alexander Albon (Red Bull) and the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Racing Point), the fourth to Leclerc and his future team-mate at Ferrari, the Spanish Carlos Sainz Jr (McLaren), and the fifth to the Canadian Lance Stroll (Racing Point) and the Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Renault).

The French Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Esteban Ocon (Renault), back in F1 after a year without a steering wheel, and Romain Grosjean (Haas) will be 12th, 14th and 15th on the grid.

The start of the race will be given at 3.10 p.m. (1.10 p.m. GMT) on Sunday, in front of stands that are still just as empty.

The season should have started in mid-March in Australia but was delayed by the new coronavirus pandemic. It begins, at a minimum, with a series of eight races in Europe until early September, for the time behind closed doors and respecting a strict health protocol.

© 2020 AFP