Verstappen had a dominating Friday.
SPIELBERG, Austria—At least so far, Max Verstappen has had a happy Red Bull homecoming. The Dutchman had no trouble in practice one and the sprint qualifying at his sponsor’s home circuit on Friday, edging McLaren rival Lando Norris by 0.093 seconds in the latter, with the Briton’s teammate Oscar Piastri finishing third.
It was by no means an easy victory. Verstappen had to wait until the very last moment to take the pole for the Saturday event, complaining about the state of his tires and the crowded grid at the short track that Red Bull Ring is.
Mercedes’s George Russell set the pace for the others to follow and ended up fourth, with Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari in fifth. In the second Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton ran off the circuit more than any other driver contesting the sprint qualifying but held on to finish sixth. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, continued his disappointing 2024 campaign, losing over a second to Verstappen and finishing seventh.
The two Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, who are beginning to show results following a terrible start to the season, took eighth and ninth on the grid, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounding up the top ten after failing to get back to the starting line to attempt another flying lap.
For television viewers, ESPN 2 will air the Sprint race at 6:00 AM Eastern time, followed by the actual Sunday race qualifying at 10:00 AM the same day. The race will also be at 9:00 AM on Sunday on ESPN 2.
