- Grill.Positions and times
The blatant superiority of Mercedes at the start of the World Cup was only altered by a news story shooting unusual. Valtteri Bottas marked the pole at the Red Bull Ring (1: 02.939) after a Q3 in which he ended up spinning around corners 4 and 5. The dust cloud scattered by the Finn somehow distracted Lewis Hamilton , by In front of operations during training and resigned to second place, only two hundredths worse than the Finn, although he was ahead of Max Verstappen .
The double of the Silver Arrows confirmed the sensations of a weekend that may also be conducive to McLaren: Lando Norris , fourth, gave Carlos Sainz , eighth , no option . The man from Madrid, despite everything, did not hide his satisfaction with its premiere. "It is a very good day for the entire team. We have options to be in the fight with the rivals who beat us last year," said the sixth place finisher of the 2019 World Cup, hoping to maintain this pace during the race. "We felt some relief because we saw Racing Point, Alpha Tauri or Renault very strong. Now we know that we can fight them," stressed the Spaniard.
The optimism of the Woking team contrasted with Ferrari's general discouragement. Sebastian Vettel couldn't even make it to Q3 and Charles Leclerc will start seventh. On that same track, last year, the Monegasque had signed the 'pole' with a lap one second faster. The bad omens of the entire preseason are now emerging in the team led by Mattia Binotto . According to the calculations provided by the FOM, Vettel's car was the second worst on the entire grid on the home straight. The German's remote chance of improvement lies in his alternative strategy for Sunday, starting with an intermediate tire.
Verstappen, to surprise
A similar option will be handled in the Verstappen garage, again the visible face of Red Bull. The Dutchman dominates every corner of the Red Bull Ring, where he has already won the victories of 2018 and 2019. His long-term bet, under high temperatures and the expected tire degradation, is the only one that scares Mercedes.
Racing Point could also join the fight for the podium, with the sixth place of Sergio Pérez , who had already put the Mexican ahead of the Ferrari in the morning classification drill. In Q1, Lance Stroll started rubbing shoulders with the true elite, at 1: 04.3, two tenths faster than Sainz.
The start of Q2 began to reveal the red cars, with Vettel one second behind and Leclerc just over seven tenths. The fatal omens would be confirmed in the attempt to improve, when Vettel failed at Turn 1, jamming on the piano and ruining everything. "This is crazy," the Monegasque shouted.
McLaren took advantage of that emptiness, thanks to the inspiration of Norris, always one step ahead of Sainz. The Briton came third, with 1: 03.9, while Carlos had to be used thoroughly to defend his place. At the moment of truth, the man from Madrid once again showed his efficiency. Not only did he nail his teammate's time, but he repeated it again at the start of Q3. Too bad the last attempt did not take the necessary flight.
Finally, mention the unflattering vibrations of Alfa Romeo and Haas, two of the teams with the worst prospects in the immediate future. Kevin Magnussen failed to pass the first sieve of Q3, while Kimi Raikkonen , penultimate, was even overtaken by George Russell , Williams' hope.
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- McLaren
- Valtteri Bottas
- Sebastian Vettel
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- Daniel Ricciardo
- Kevin Magnussen
- Kimi raikkonen
- Lewis Hamilton
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