Verstappen claims his first pole position in four weekends with a sublime performance at the Red Bull Ring.

Three-time FIA Formula One world champion Max Verstappen followed up his Saturday Sprint Race victory with a comfortable pole position in Qualifying later on the same day for the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday.

After taking Pole yesterday in qualifying, Verstappen converted that pole position into victory overcoming the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris via some exhilarating wheel-to-wheel action.

While Verstappen held his lead at the start, Norris soon closed in and briefly moved into P1 with a bold overtake, only for the reigning world champion to reclaim the position moments later in a squabble that enabled Piastri to pass his team mate.

“It was a good day today,” said Verstappen. “I am extremely happy that we got P1 in the Sprint and put it on pole in Qualifying and am really proud of the Team that we were able to be so competitive. We definitely saw some good improvements after the Sprint race, it all connected and the balance of the car felt a lot better, so hopefully we can keep that going. I could really push to the limit and it felt great to be that competitive in qualifying. The whole session went really well and the car was in a better window; I could push harder, the car was sticking and I am actually quite surprised by the gap! It shows that small changes that you make to the car can really make a difference. I am looking forward to tomorrow. We have had a really good weekend so far but the most important part has to happen tomorrow, so let’s see what the race brings.”

Behind the top three drivers, who maintained that formation to the chequered flag despite some more moments of excitement, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton sandwiched Carlos Sainz, followed by the recovering Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez.

With a tweaked format in play for the 2024 season, Friday afternoon’s Sprint Qualifying session set the grid for the 100km dash, in which points would be handed out to the top eight finishers – from a maximum of eight for P1 down to one for P8.

Following on from a hard-fought Sprint victory, and a competitive run in Q1 of qualifying, the reigning world champion lit up the timesheets across the Q2 phase to move comfortably clear and send a message to the rest of the field.

Verstappen got back on top securing pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix after a commanding performance in Saturday’s qualifying, beating closest challenger Lando Norris by four tenths of a second.

Having set an impressive early benchmark in the initial laps of Q3, Verstappen bettered his time on his second effort to a record a lap of 1m 04.314s in the Red Bull. Norris was 0.404s back for McLaren in second, while George Russell slotted his Mercedes into third.

The Ferrari of Carlos Sainz took fourth, ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes in fifth and the other Scuderia car of Charles Leclerc in sixth, who had an off-track moment on his final lap. Oscar Piastri, meanwhile, was dropped down to seventh after exceeding track limits in the McLaren.

Sergio Perez claimed P8 for Red Bull, while Nico Hulkenberg went ninth fastest for Haas but will be investigated after the session for two separate pit lane incidents. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon rounds out the top 10.

Verstappen said: “The whole session went really well. The car was in a better window, I could push a bit more and it was very enjoyable. Every lap I did was feeling good. It’s been a while since we were on pole. The team has been working hard to make the car more competitive. A good statement. Hopefully it will be a tight battle again, but I am not thinking too much about that. I am just thinking about how the car was performing today and hopefully it will translate into race pace.”