Austrian Grand Prix: George Russell grabs pole from Charles Leclerc after Max Verstappen crash

The recent drama was caused by a major crash by Verstappen, who lost control on a high-speed downhill right-hand bend and spun over the gravel and into the barrier.

Ferrari and McLaren raced early enough to complete their laps ahead of Verstappen, but the Mercedes drivers were running behind the Dutchman on the track.

Until Russell’s unexpected recovery, the crash appeared to have guaranteed the front row for Ferrari, who did not look likely to race on pole until the end of qualifying.

Leclerc was 0.059 seconds faster than Hamilton, who was the fastest Ferrari driver all weekend.

Hamilton made a mistake on his first run of the third quarter, locking up the brakes at turn three and having to abort the lap.

This left him with a different risk-reward balance in the final round, where he didn’t have enough money to beat his teammate.

Antonelli completely backtracked on his final lap approaching Turn Nine and was almost two seconds slower than his last run.

Verstappen’s first lap, his third fastest lap behind Antonelli and Russell, was good enough for fifth.

Both McLaren drivers improved in their final runs, but Norris was just 0.027 seconds slower than Verstappen, with Piastri 0.009 seconds behind.

Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.