Hamilton races to the rain pole in Austria

At the rain-soaked Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Mercedes driver Max Verstappen relegated his Red Bull to second place. McLaren driver Carlos Sainz came third in qualifying on Saturday. For the masterfully driving Hamilton it was the first pole of the year and the 89th of his career. Ferrari with great difficulties Sebastian Vettel couldn't keep up in the Ferrari. After eleventh place a week ago, the German only managed tenth place. He was almost 2,4 seconds behind Hamilton (2,378). Vettel's stable rival Charles Leclerc will start the race on Sunday (15.00 p.m.) from directly behind. “I had a big moment on the penultimate lap when my heart almost sank,” reported Hamilton. "I love these days." Sebastian Vettel struggled with the conditions. © APA/afp / DARKO BANDIC

The drivers had to forego a final warm-up. For safety reasons, the final training was canceled. This was last the case in October last year, when Typhoon Hagibis brought the premier class of motorsport in Japan to a standstill for an entire day.

The weather really threw the schedule in Styria into disarray. Qualification was only released 46 minutes late. Previously, the heavy rain had caused the Formula 3 race as part of the premier motorsport supporting program to be canceled after just twelve laps. The conditions had become too dangerous for the drivers.

A decisive factor for safety is always whether the rescue helicopter positioned on the course can take off. Dark clouds hung over the route. “Austria is always a challenging course when it comes to the weather,” said Formula 1 sports director Ross Brawn. “But we have dealt with such conditions before.” Carlos Sainz surprised with third place. © APA/afp / LEONHARD FOEGER

The race management had long since gone through the models of what would happen if, in the worst case scenario, no hunt for a starting position had been possible. Then the times from the last training session would have been used. That would have been fatal for Vettel, who only finished 16th in the second free practice session. At 15.46:1 p.m. the stewards gave the desired clearance. And the German was the first pilot to venture out. Vettel also secured the first fastest lap (24,235:XNUMX minutes). Times improved as a result. Giovinazzi crashes into the boundary The knockout phases did not pass without incident. Antonio Giovinazzi slid off the track in his Alfa Romeo at the end of the first qualifying section. Vettel, on the other hand, remained in control of his red racing car, even if it sometimes carried him over the curb. After he missed out on making it to the final round with eleventh place a week ago, he was now spared this in the rain. Vettel barely made it into the final knockout phase in tenth place, while his stable rival Leclerc missed out on a position in the top ten in eleventh place.

“We just weren’t fast enough, we couldn’t do anything about it,” summed up the Monegasque. The rain then didn't let up. “A lot more water is coming down,” reported world champion Hamilton at the beginning of the decisive round. In an outstanding manner, he secured first place on the grid.

Styrian Grand Prix, qualifying: Pos Name Team Time 1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1: 19.273 minutes 2. Max Verstappen Red Bull +1.216 seconds 3. Carlos Sainz McLaren +1.398 4. Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +1.428 5. Esteban Ocon Renault +1.649 6. Lando Norris McLaren +1.652 7. Alex Albon Red Bull +1.738 8. Pierre Gasly Alpha tauri +1.755 9. Daniel Ricciardo Renault +1.919 10. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +2.378

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Hamilton races to the rain pole in Austria

World champion Lewis Hamilton impressively secured pole position for the second Formula 1 race of the year in Austria.

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