Lewis Hamilton achieved his fifty-four career pole position at the Red Bull Ring, recovering from his tyre blistering problems in final practice to top a rain-affected and dramatic qualifying session.
The drivers began Q3 on intermediate tyres after rain fell heavily in Spielberg at the end of Q2, but everyone had to switch to dry tyres for the last few minutes as the track conditions improved.
Hamilton ended the session 0.543 seconds quicker than Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, but Rosberg will drop to seventh following a crash in final practice which resulting in a gearbox change.
Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India was the first car to switch to slicks in Q3 and ended the session with the third quickest time, ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari, which also carries a five-place grid penalty.
Jenson Button was a superb fifth quickest for McLaren-Honda and will start third on the grid thanks to Rosberg’s and Vettel’s penalties.
This was Button’s first appearance in Q3 since 2014 and to qualify on row two is a rewarding effort for the Woking-based team.
Kimi Raikkonen was 0.001 seconds slower than Button and yet, just ahead of Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull.
Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen and Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten.
That rain during the final minutes of Q2 prevented Mercedes matching the Red Bull and Ferrari strategy of setting faster times on super-soft tyres, meaning they can start the race on those sets.
Mercedes tried to respond after it used ultra-softs at the beginning of Q2, before the rain came, but the track was too wet when it sent its cars out on super-softs, so Hamilton and Rosberg will start on the less suitable softest compound.
The bad weather also protected Button from possible elimination, as he made Q3 for the first time since the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by edging ahead of Esteban Gutierrez’s Haas, which finished the session in P11.
Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein starred with the tenth best time in Q1, before going P12 in Q2 – equalling Manor’s best qualifying result in the sport.
Romain Grosjean ran off track during his first run in Q2 on old tyres, and the subsequent rain condemned him to P13, 0.150 seconds adrift of Wehrlein.
Fernando Alonso was a distant P14 in the McLaren-Honda, after mistakenly doing his first Q2 run on old tyres.
He finished the session ahead only of the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez’s Force India, who both sat out Q2 due to engine and suspension failures respectively.
The climax to the first part of qualifying was heavily affected by two separate incidents for Toro Rosso.
First, Daniil Kvyat crashed after suffering suspension failure over the exit kerb at Turn 8, which caused a red flag that meant rivals had to abort runs.
Then team-mate Sainz suffered his problem exiting the pits after the restart, which caused yellow flags and rendered the final minutes largely redundant.
However, Hulkenberg improved his lap time while the yellow flags were out, so his front-row start is under threat from an investigation into how much he backed off when passing the incident.
Sainz remained P11, while Renault pairing Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer stayed P17 and P18, behind Alonso’s McLaren.
Rio Haryanto ended up P19 for Manor, improving under the yellow flags but not in the first sector and not by enough to gain any places.
Kvyat ended up P20, narrowly ahead of the Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr, the latter of which also improved under the yellows but again not by enough to improve position.
Qualifying standings, Austrian Grand Prix:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m07.922s
2 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m09.285s
3 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1m09.900s
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m09.901s
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m09.980s
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m10.440s
7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m08.465s*
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 1m11.153s
9 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m09.781s*
10 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m11.977s
11 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1m07.578s
12 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1m07.700s
13 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1m07.850s
14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1m08.154s
15 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Ferrari No time
16 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes No time
17 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m07.941s
18 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m07.965s
19 Rio Haryanto Manor-Mercedes 1m08.026s
20 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m08.409s
21 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m08.418s
22 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1m08.446s
*Five-place grid penalty for changing gearbox
Austrian Grand Prix qualifying review as reported by Formula1.com:
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday’s Spielberg race from pole position after a dramatic wet-dry qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring. Five-place grid penalties for team mate Nico Rosberg – second fastest – and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel – fourth – mean Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg joins Hamilton on the front row of the grid, with McLaren’s Jenson Button third.
Q3 started on a wet track which required intermediate tyres, but ended on a rapidly drying one, forcing drivers to switch back to slick rubber. Kimi Raikkonen ended up fifth for Ferrari, ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Williams’ Felipe Massa.
A dry Q1 saw Hamilton come out fighting, setting the track’s fastest-ever times of 1m 07.014s and then 1m 06.947s before Vettel jumped to second with 1m 07.030s and then Rosberg, his car brilliantly repaired in time by Mercedes after his FP3 crash (with help from Hamilton’s mechanics too), slammed in a 1m 06.690s and then improved that to 1m 06.516s just after Vettel had reduced his time to 1m 06.761s. Great stuff.
Sergio Perez was forced to retire his Force India early on with a suspected rear suspension failure, and with just under two minutes remaining, Daniil Kvyat showed how tricky the kerbs can be here. The Russian ran wide on the exit to Turn 8, and his oversteering Toro Rosso broke its right rear suspension as it went over the punishing undulations.
The Toro Rosso slithered down towards the apex of Turn 9, where Kvyat was lucky to avoid hitting the pit entry wall sideways on, before bouncing uncomfortably over his own battered wheels and stopped in the run-off area.
After a brief red-flag period the session was restarted with just 1m 44s left on the clock, and there was immediate drama as Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso’s engine appeared to blow up. Hulkenberg improved, pushing the startling Pascal Wehrlein from ninth to a nonetheless hugely impressive 10th in the Manor, but that didn’t change anything for the final six.
Kevin Magnussen and Renault team mate Jolyon Palmer failed to improve and that left them 17th and 18th on 1m 07.941s and 1m 07.965s respectively. Rio Haryanto improved to 1m 08.026s for Manor to take 19th ahead of Kvyat on 1m 08.409s, with Marcus Ericsson narrowly heading Sauber partner Felipe Nasr, 1m 08.416s to 1m 08.446s.
As the remaining drivers prepared for Q2, the risk of rain increased. Eight minutes was the ETA.
Cleverly, Ferrari ran Vettel and Raikkonen on supersoft tyres, meaning they can use them to start their races. Vettel was a strong third fastest on 1m 06.602s, Raikkonen seventh on 1m 06.940s. Red Bull ran Ricciardo and Verstappen on ultrasofts to begin with, but on supersofts both improved, to 1m 06.840s and 1m 06.866s respectively, leaving them fourth and fifth and thus able to use them at the start too.
Hamilton this time aced Rosberg, with 1m 06.228s to 1m 06.403s, but Mercedes gambled too long on making the same switch from ultrasofts to supersofts. Rosberg quit straight away as the first rain spots fell with four minutes left; Hamilton continued and was only a tenth down on Rosberg’s best sector one time, but by sector two he was 10 seconds off. That has thus set up a fascinating strategic battle for the race. Mercedes must start on the fragile ultrasofts, while their four strongest rivals can use the much more durable supersofts and thus run longer opening stints.
Jenson Button slipped off the road in Turn 3 but still made Q3 for McLaren, by six-thousandths from Esteban Gutierrez on 1m 07.578s for Haas. Next came the impressive Wehrlein on 1m 07.700s in Manor’s best performance of the year, and Romain Grosjean on 1m 07.850s for Haas. Fernando Alonso had one moment reported zero rain and pitted his McLaren, then regretted it when it arrived suddenly and left him 14th on 1m 08.154s.
Neither Sainz nor Perez was running, so they took 15th and 16th.
Q3 thus began in slippery conditions, with everyone on intermediate tyres. It became a session of two parts.
In both, lap times fell faster than you could write them down, but as everybody sped pitward with only minutes remaining, to switch to ultrasofts for the drying track, the order was Hamilton, Button, Ricciardo, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Vettel, Massa, Bottas and Verstappen.
Hulkenberg was the first to switch rubber, and he had spells on top, but the times were improving every lap as conditions improved. Massa, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Hulkenberg again, Vettel, and then Hamilton again all had turns at the top, and in the end it was the world champion on pole yet again with 1m 07.922s, Rosberg was next with 1m 08.465s, with Hulkenberg third on 1m 09.285s ahead of Vettel on 1m 09.781s, Button on 1m 09.900s, Raikkonen on 1m 09.901s and Ricciardo on 1m 09.980s. Bottas was eighth with 1m 10.440s ahead of Verstappen on 1m 11.153s and Massa on 1m 11.977s.
With both Vettel and Rosberg set for five-place grid penalties for unscheduled gearbox changes, the grid will thus line up: Hamilton, Hulkenberg; Button, Raikkonen; Ricciardo, Bottas; Rosberg, Verstappen; Vettel, Massa; Gutierrez, Wehrlein; Grosjean, Alonso; Sainz; Perez; Magnussen, Palmer; Haryanto, Kvyat; Ericsson, Nasr.
Hulkenberg, it should be noted, is under investigation by the stewards for allegedly failing to slow under yellow flags, as are Palmer, Haryanto and Nasr.
Lewis Hamilton looks to have a clear run for victory at the Austrian Grand Prix, having qualified on pole while his rivals face grid drops.
Lewis Hamilton claimed his 54th career pole on a rain-interrupted day of qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.
The British driver took full advantage of Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg being handed a five-place grid penalty imposed for replacing his gearbox following a crash in practice earlier on Saturday.
The German recorded the second quickest time in qualifying, but will start from seventh as he looks to defend his 24-point lead over Hamilton in the championship standings.
“[It was] a really unbelievable job by my team; even Lewis’s mechanics came to my car,” Rosberg told the BBC.
“It was really tight and awesome. Lewis did a good job there in the end. Second not first, but it’s OK.
“The five places will be very costly, but I’ll make the best of it anyways.”
Sebastian Vettel was another to be hit with a five-place grid penalty and the Ferrari driver will have to try and maintain his championship challenge from ninth place.
A sharp rain shower made for a challenging final qualification session at the Red Bull Ring, but failed to trouble McLaren’s Jenson Button who took advantage of Rosberg and Vettel’s demotion to claim a place on the second row, having scraped into Q3 for the first time in 2016.
“I love those conditions, can’t we have those every race!” he said.
“That’s mega. It was an enjoyable session. We were quick on the wets, and then we weren’t too bad on the slicks either.
“It’s easy from here isn’t it? I’ve seen it on TV!”
Nico Hulkenberg is likely to start second on the grid, having gone third-fastest, despite a steward’s investigation to determine whether he failed to slow behind yellow flags.
Kimi Raikkonen will aim to end his three-year winless streak from fourth place, while Australian Daniel Ricciardo will go in search of his first victory of the season from fifth.
Source: Yahoo! Sport
McLaren’s Jenson Button was overjoyed with third place on the Austrian Grand Prix grid and has described this achievement as ‘madness’. Autosport.com has the full story.
Jenson Button described the fact he will start Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix from third on the grid as ‘madness’ after he starred in a weather-affected qualifying.
The McLaren driver was fifth fastest in Q3, which will become third as a result of grid penalties for Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel for gearbox changes.
“P5 in qualifying, starting P3, it’s madness,” said Button.
“P3 is luck, but P5 wasn’t luck, we did a really good job. I’m so happy.
“It feels like a pole position for me. Whatever happens tomorrow we’ll enjoy today.”
Button said he took a risk with his strategy on the drying track in Q3, waiting until his final lap on slicks to really push for a quick time.
“We were never going to qualify fifth in a completely dry session but in these conditions we could,” he said.
“We called it just right – it worked today.
“In a way I took a lot of risk because I saved everything for the last lap and there could have been a yellow flag, but it was worth it.
Daniil Kvyat labelled the Red Bull Ring kerbs “stupid” following the suspension failure that caused him to crash in Austrian Grand Prix Formula 1 qualifying.
The Toro Rosso driver crashed in Q1 after his suspension failed between the final two corners when he ran over the raised yellow kerbing that is designed to prevent drivers abusing track limits.
Championship leader Nico Rosberg had a similar crash running over a smaller kerb at Turn 2 in final practice, while Sergio Perez had to park his Force India with a suspension breakage in Q1.
“They should take them off,” Kvyat said. “They’ve done a mistake, they have to admit that it’s stupid.
“Last year we had Astroturf at that corner, which is completely fine – you lose time.
“Now if you go on the kerb you continue because you don’t lose time, but the suspension fails.”
Though drivers did not raise strong objections to the kerbing in Friday’s briefing with race director Charlie Whiting, Kvyat argued “today the consequences are stronger”.
Polesitter Lewis Hamilton added: “I can’t speak on behalf of all the drivers but from me looking at it, those yellow kerbs are quite dangerous.
“We’ve now seen a couple of incidents already.
“I don’t know how many more of those it is going to take before a car ends up in the wall and perhaps someone gets hurt.
“I’m sure it is something Charlie and the FIA are looking at.”
Max Verstappen criticised the kerbs after his own incident during practice one and now felt vindicated after failing to get fellow drivers’ backing on Friday.
“All the drivers were very happy with the kerbs, so maybe now they’re not so happy,” he said.
“You could clearly see what happened today and I experienced it yesterday.”
Source: Autosport.com