Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas takes pole position for the Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Bottas was 0.042s faster than Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who will start alongside him on the front row of the grid.
Team-mate Lewis Hamilton was third fastest in the final qualifying session, but a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change drops him to eigth on the grid. That promotes Kimi Raikkonan and Daniel Ricciardo to third and fourth for tomorrow’s race.
Max Verstappen struggled in the final qualifying session after flying in Q1 and Q2. The Red Bull driver had three sets of tyres for the final session, but made mistakes on every lap. As the chequered flag fell, he ran into the gravel, but managed to keep the car out of the barriers. He was sixth fastest and will start tomorrow’s race fifth.
Romain Grosjean managed to put his Haas in the final qualifying despite spinning into the gravel at the start of Q1. He was struggling with drivability and stopped on track towards the end of Q3, bringing out the yellow flags and ending the session. He qualified sixth.
Sergio Perez is the final driver to gain from Hamilton’s penalty. Having qualified eighth, he’ll start seventh. Team-mate Esteban Ocon takes ninth.
Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz enjoyed a strong qualifying session. He jumped up to third in Q2, but was knocked back to fourth by the end of the session. He couldn’t match that performance in Q3 and qualified 10th. Team-mate Daniil Kvyat could only manage 14th.
Nico Hulkenberg, who outqualified team-mate Jolyon Palmer again, will start just outside the top 10 in 11th. Palmer couldn’t make it to Q2 and will start 16th.
Both McLaren drivers managed to get through to Q2, but couldn’t progress any further. They’ll start 12th and 13th, with Fernando Alonso ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne once again.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen enjoyed a strong Q1, briefly running at the top end of the order, but suffered rear suspension failure when he ran over the kerbs. The damage was too serve for him to continue, and he will start tomorrow’s race from 15th.
Williams, who has been struggling with downforce all weekend, couldn’t make it out of the first qualifying session. Felipe Massa will start seventeenth, ahead of Lance Stroll.
Sauber makes up the back row of the grid, with Marcus Ericsson outqualifying Pascal Wehrlein.
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