Max Verstappen takes his 40th pole position at the Austrian GP

Austrian F1 GP. Spielberg Circuit. Saturday (29), 11:00 am Dutchman Max Verstappen officially takes the lead in Sunday's race. By beating Lando Norris and George Russell, with a lap of 1m04s314, the three-time champion secured the first position on the grid.

Winning four pole positions at Spielberg, a track owned by RBR, Verstappen became the main pole holder and overtook the former home driver, three-time champion Niki Lauda. Max is now considered the greatest winner of this circuit, having won the race four times.

How it was

The three-time champion was absolute throughout, recording laps above his rivals in all three segments. And if in previous disputes against McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes the difference seemed small, this time there is nothing to discuss; Verstappen outperformed his opponents by a huge margin. The Dutchman had won the sprint race (short race, around 100 kilometers) in the Austrian phase, which corresponded to his tenth victory in the model adopted since 2021. He also reached the mark of eight pole positions out of the 11 contested so far.

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_{Verstappen (center) flanked by Lecler and Sainz (photo: reproduction/Mark Thompson/Getty Images Embed)}

Who did well?

The first efficient attempt, recorded by Verstappen, was surpassed by Leclerc four minutes into training. Norris was just behind the Monegasque with a difference of just 0s009. Russell's Mercedes, despite being the last to enter the track, became the leader, but Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, from Ferrari, beat the time set by the Brit. Lewis Hamilton went from 7th to 12th as other drivers improved their performances. When the cars returned to the track, with less than three minutes to go, he was flirting with elimination in 16th place. Despite taking risks, Lewis finished the race in seventh place. Yuki Tsunoda (RB) was another who escaped elimination at the last minute.

Verstappen, in the top 10 finals, improved his performance and prevented Norris and Russell from catching up. This is how the grid ended up with the 10 best: Max Verstappen (RBR); Lando Norris (McLaren); George Russell (Mercedes); Carlos Sainz (Ferrari); Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes); Charles Leclerc (Ferrari); Oscar Piastri (McLaren); Sergio Pérez (RBR); Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine). The Austrian GP will be this Sunday (30) at 11:00 am (Brasília time).

Featured Photo: Max Verstappen, pole position in Spielberg (Reproduction/Zak Mauger/Getty Images Embed)