The F1 season's first competition is underway and on Saturday it was time for qualifying for Austria's grand prix. Mercedes dominated last year's season and started the season off in the same way. Valtteri Bottas took pole position after a first successful attempt in Q3 and was twelve hundredth faster than teammate Lewis Hamilton.

- It feels very good, I have lacked the feeling of a qualm. It is something special to push the car to the limit. We look to be in a class of their own, but tomorrow is the case, says Valtteri Bottas in Viasat's broadcast.

Vettel outside the top ten

Last season Ferrari came second in the constructors' championship but the team got far from the start they hope for. Charles Leclerc, who set the track record during last year's qualifying, had nothing to do with the top match and starts as car number seven tomorrow.

Even worse was the case for Sebastian Vettel, who did not advance to Q3 and starts in eleventh place.

New system approved

Following yesterday's training session, Red Bull filed a protest against the Mercedes Dual axis steering system, DAS, but late on Friday night the message came that the International Motor Sports Federation, Fia, approves the system.

It was during the pre-season tests that Mercedes showed off its new innovation. DAS gives the driver of the team the opportunity to change the angle of the front of the car by pulling the steering wheel towards it. It is mainly on straight stretches that the drivers use the system to get a uniform heating of the tires, and can then go back to the original angle through the curves for the sake of stability.