Oracle Red Bull Racing

Max Makes It Three Poles In A Row

Qualifying at the Austrian GP sees Max put it on pole for the third consecutive race as Checo's set to start P3 tomorrow.

Max

took

his

second

pole

position

week

the

Red

Bull

Ring

dominated

qualifying

for

the

Team’s

home

Austrian

Grand

Prix,

leading

every

segment

the

session.

The Dutchman eased through the opening phases of the session, claiming top spot in both Q1 and Q2. And the dominance continued at the start of the final top-10 shootout as Max powered to a super lap of 1:03.720 that eventually proved enough to secure the seventh pole position of his career.

Checo will start tomorrow’s race from third place on the grid after a super final flyer saw him find three tenths of a second to rise from fifth place after the opening runs of Q3. However, the Mexican was denied a front-row spot by McLaren’s Lando Norris who claimed the first front-row start of his career with a lap just 0.048s behind Max.

The final flying laps meant that Max’s title rival Lewis Hamilton will start in fourth place just ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Max On Mediums In Q2

Q1

In Q1 Max went out earlier than usual and with his first flying lap he jumped to the top of the order with a 1:04.249. Hamilton wasn’t far behind the Dutchman on track and when he crossed the line he slotted into second place with a lap of 1:04.506, six hundredths of a second ahead of teammate Bottas.

Checo, meanwhile, found his way to sixth place with his opening lap of 1:04.833. However, as rivals crossed the line he dropped to eighth place and while Max stayed in the garage for the final runs, Checo had to go again.

In the end though, the Mexican didn’t need the boost of an extra flyer and as Norris finished second behind Max and ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso. Checo backed out of his final flyer as others failed to make significant gains and he settled for his opening lap time and P8.

Eliminated at the end of the first segment were Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen in P16 ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and the Haas pair of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Checo Waiting To Roll Out

Q2

In the second segment Checo was first out on track, on medium tyres, and the Mexican gave the remaining drivers in the field a target of 1:04.554 to aim at. Max then headed out on mediums and immediately jumped to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:04.208.

Hamilton then took second but was soon eclipsed by Norris and Checo who went for a second attempt of 1:04.483.

In the final runs, Max went quicker again to hold top spot with a lap of 1:03.927, while Hamilton rose to take P2, over three tenths down on the Red Bull. Bottas took third place ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Norris; as Checo settled for P6 thanks to his second run time.

Alonso though appeared to be blocked by seventh placed Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin and the stewards quickly announced that they would investigate the incident after the session. Williams' George Russell did make it through, however, taking Williams into Q3 for the first time this season.

At the end of the session it meant that both Ferraris failed to progress, with Carlos Sainz being eliminated in P11 ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Alonso and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.

Both Bulls To Start On Medium Pirellis

Q3

In the first runs of the top-10 shootout Max once again set blistering pace to open his Q3 account with a lap of 1:03.720. Norris also showed good pace to take P2 just over two tenths of a second behind the Dutchman, with Hamilton in third place almost three tenths off Max. Sergio, though, found himself in P5 after the first runs, a little under two tenths of a second behind Bottas.

The Mexican would need to find good gains in the final runs and when they began he was third in the queue out of the pit lane, behind Norris.

Team Pole Position

First time we’ve claimed three pole positions in a row since 2013.

Max Pole Position

Max was at the head of the pack and though the Red Bull driver tried to find more time on his final run he couldn’t make an improvement. Aided by a tow from the championship leader Norris found more time, but the Briton couldn’t quite match Max's opening effort and the Red Bull driver’s opening lap was good enough to claim the Team’s 67th pole position and Max’s third in a row.

Sergio also benefited from a tow, this time from Norris, and the Mexican found the pace he needed to leapfrog both Mercedes drivers, taking P3 ahead of Hamilton and Bottas.

Behind the Mercedes drivers Gasly took sixth for AlphaTauri ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Vettel finished eighth but will face investigation, along with Bottas, while Russell qualified in P9 ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

Austrian Grand Prix 2021: Qualifying

Parking Up Where He Left Off Last Week

Heading Towards His Fans

It's So Good To Have You Back

Back In The Garage Ahead Of His Next Run

Checo To Start P3 In Austria

Checo To Charge From P3 Tomorrow

Everything Looks Better With Fans

Pole In Front Of The Fans

Bulls To Line Up P1 And P3

Heading Towards Pole Position

Navigating Turn 1 And Heading Up The Hill

A Sight We Love To See

Taking In The Views From Quali

WhatWasSaid:

Max

I’m of course happy to be on pole, especially at the Red Bull Ring again, and having three poles in a row is great for the Team.

Max Verstappen

“Q1 and Q2 were very good and comfortable but I was not entirely happy in Q3 as my laps weren't amazing. I’m of course happy to be on pole, especially at the Red Bull Ring again, and having three poles in a row is great for the Team. But I cannot be entirely happy as I always want to be perfect and I always want to analyse what went well and what went wrong. Maybe that is how I grew up but I also believe that is how you keep improving. Now I’m just looking forward to tomorrow as we have a good race car and of course with Checo being third as well it is great for the Team and hopefully we can push together and score a lot of points. It was also an amazing lap by Lando and they have been quite close this weekend but I don’t expect them to be our main rivals in the race tomorrow.

It was amazing to see the orange army back in the grandstands, it has been a long time.

Max Verstappen

"I’m very pleased with the whole package, the car and engine together have been working so well over the last few races, so we have good confidence for tomorrow but for sure it's never easy and it’s softer compounds compared to last week so it will be tough to manage those in the race and we still have strong competition. It was also amazing to see the orange army back in the grandstands. It has been a long time and they are so happy to be here cheering us on which I love to see.”

Checo

“I’m happy, it’s a very good result for the Team here at our home track in Austria. Max and I are in a good starting position and hopefully we can get a good start off the line tomorrow, that will be critical. Overall, it’s been a really hard weekend up until now, we’ve been chasing a lot of balance, exploring the car in all areas and just chipping away at it in every single run.

"I’m starting on the mediums but it’s going to be a race where one or two pit stops is unknown, no one has had enough of a long run yet so it’s hard to tell. In the end we got a good lap today and it didn’t come easy, anything can happen tomorrow and I believe we have a better race car than quali so I hope that we can bring home some solid points for the Team. Congratulations to Lando too, he did a very strong lap today.”

ChristianHorner

It’s our first triple pole since 2013 and Max’s first, plus it's great to have Checo up there in P3 giving us a great chance with both cars tomorrow.

Christian Horner CBE

“Today was a great Team performance. It’s our first triple pole since 2013 and Max’s first, plus it's great to have Checo up there in P3 giving us a great chance with both cars tomorrow. Max is always looking for that little bit extra and he was frustrated as he felt there was more in the car in Q3. He had a slight lock-up on the first run so we wanted to give him clean air for the second which meant he ended up at the front of the queue, creating a hole in the air that gave Lando behind him a slight tow making the margin very small, but nonetheless a phenomenal performance once again from him.

It’s great for Formula One to see the fans back so let’s hope we can deliver a great result for them tomorrow.

Christian Horner CBE

"It was clear that we wanted to get both cars through on the medium tyre which is what we achieved, so let’s see what the weather brings tomorrow with the colder temperatures and threat of rain. The tyres are also a step softer so there will be a lot of discussion tonight around whether the race is a one or two stop. You forget the atmosphere the fans bring, it seems so long since we’ve had them at the track. Max has got such a large, loyal following, and you could hear the noise when he got pole no matter where you were on the circuit. It’s great for Formula One to see the fans back so let’s hope we can deliver a great result for them tomorrow.”

AustrianGrandPrixQualifyingTop10

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Max Verstappen	Lando Norris	Sergio Pérez	Lewis Hamilton	Valtteri Bottas	Pierre Gasly	Yuki Tsunoda	Sebastian Vettel	George Russell	Lance Stroll
Red Bull Racing Honda	McLaren	Red Bull Racing Honda	Mercedes	Mercedes	AlphaTauri	AlphaTauri	Aston Martin	Williams	Aston Martin
1.03.720	1.03.768	1.03.990	1.04.014	1.04.049	1.04.107	1.04.273	1.04.570	1.04.591	1.04.618