Spielberg [Austria], June 29: George Russell claimed pole position for the Austrian Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday with an extraordinary lap at the end of a dramatic qualifying session in which Max Verstappen crashed late on.
Russell clocked 1 minute 6.113 seconds in his Mercedes on the 4,321-kilometres Red Bull Ring in his final lap but faced an anxious wait to see whether he had slowed down sufficiently under yellow flags after Verstappen went into the barriers.
He was cleared a few minutes later by stewards and despite the incident took pole with a massive advantage of .236 ahead of Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.
The advantage is even more stunning as Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said Russell probably lost "one and a half tenths" when he lifted his foot off the gas for around 100m.
Lewis Hamilton was .295 back in third in the other Ferrari and championship leader Kimi Antonelli fourth in the other Mercedes, .301 behind.
"I feel incredible. It was an amazing lap. I saw the yellow, I had a big lift into the corner, went in five tenths up and came out two and a half tenths up," Russell said.
It added to the confusion that Russell had a lap deleted but that appeared to be the in-lap after the fast lap when not single but double yellow flags were waved over the Verstappen incident, forcing drivers to slow down even more.
'Clean weekend' Leclerc, who has enjoyed a difficult season, said: "I'm relatively happy about today.
"Of course the last few weekends have been quite tough, so I just wanted to have a clean weekend and most of all a clean qualifying to start well for tomorrow."
Hamilton, who claimed his first win as a Ferrari driver at the Barcelona-Catalunya GP two weeks ago, said he was happy with the outcome after making a mistake in his first Q3 fast lap.
"To have the two Ferraris second and third is fantastic and a reflection of the amazing work being done back at the factory.
"They really are continuing to push. They brought small bits here and worked hard to upgrade the car. It is really starting to pay off," he said.
It was a dramatic qualifying where Verstappen from home team Red Bull just squeezed into Q3 by a mere four-hundredths of a second in 10th place. He then held an early lead, which was however quickly bettered by Antonelli, while Russell moved into second.
The Dutchman finished up fifth before his crash.
Hamilton and then Leclerc bettered the fastest time but Russell had the last laugh, after also topping third practice earlier on another hot day in Austria.
Russell has not won a grand prix proper since the season-opener in Australia. The next five races were won by Antonelli before the Italian teenager failed to finish two weeks ago in Barcelona where Hamilton triumphed.
Antonelli tops the championship 41 points ahead of Hamilton and 50 ahead of Russell.
Source: Qatar Tribune
