F1: BOTTAS TAKES POLE, FERRARI FUMBLES
Valtteri Bottas claimed pole position for the Austrian GP – Photo: LAT
Finland’s Valtteri Bottas has taken pole position for the first race of the 2020 Formula 1 season in Austria, while the Ferraris languished down the field.
By DAN McCARTHY
Despite taking pole position it wasn’t a trouble-free session for Bottas, when trying to improve on his provisional pole time he ran off the circuit on the exit of Turn 4.
On his last lap six-time champion Lewis Hamilton improved his time and was just 0.012s away from snatching pole position from his younger teammate.
The two Ferraris driven by Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc looked slow throughout pre-season testing and this proved to be the harsh reality as everyone showed their cards in qualifying. Leclerc could only manage to qualify in seventh, Vettel was eliminated in Q2 and will start the race from 11th place.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo was heavily compromised by the yellow flags deployed when Bottas left the track, as a result the West Aussie will start from 10th in his Renault.
Defending Austrian Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen will start from third position, but was over half a second slower than both Mercedes. The Dutchman will start the race on the medium compound tyres whereas the other nine drivers will start on the soft tyres.
Lando Norris driving for McLaren set an impressive time to qualify fourth ahead of the Red Bull of Alex Albon and the fast Racing Point in the hands of Sergio Perez.
Behind Leclerc is Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll and Ricciardo who rounds out the top 10. Vettel will start from p11 ahead of the two Alpha Tauris of Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat.
After a year away from Formula 1 Esteban Ocon in the second Renault qualified 14th in front of Romain Grosjean.
Grosjeans Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen will start from 16th ahead of the Williams of George Russell. The Briton impressively out-qualified both Alfa Romeo drivers Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen. The sole F1 rookie, Canadian Nicolas Latifi will start the race from 20th on the grid.
The opening race of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship begins tomorrow at 11.05pm AEST.
Formula 1 – Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying Results
| Pos | Num | Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:04.111 | 1:03.015 | 1:02.939 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:04.198 | 1:03.096 | 1:02.951 |
| 3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:04.024 | 1:04.000 | 1:03.477 |
| 4 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Renault | 1:04.606 | 1:03.819 | 1:03.626 |
| 5 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:04.661 | 1:03.746 | 1:03.868 |
| 6 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point BWT Mercedes | 1:04.543 | 1:03.860 | 1:03.868 |
| 7 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:04.500 | 1:04.041 | 1:03.923 |
| 8 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren Renault | 1:04.537 | 1:03.971 | 1:03.971 |
| 9 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point BWT Mercedes | 1:04.309 | 1:03.955 | 1:04.029 |
| 10 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1:04.556 | 1:04.023 | 1:04.239 |
| 11 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:04.554 | 1:04.206 | |
| 12 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri Honda | 1:04.603 | 1:04.305 | |
| 13 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri Honda | 1:05.031 | 1:04.431 | |
| 14 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1:04.933 | 1:04.643 | |
| 15 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:05.094 | 1:04.691 | |
| 16 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:05.164 | ||
| 17 | 63 | George Russell | Williams Mercedes | 1:05.167 | ||
| 18 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:05.175 | ||
| 19 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:05.224 | ||
| 20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes | 1:05.757 |
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