The 2018 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying saw a solid fight among Mercedes and Ferrari as Valtteri Bottas defended his crown beating Lewis Hamilton by just 0.019s as Sebastian Vettel was only third.
Q1:
The first part of the qualifying session in Austrian GP had a competitive showing especially in the midfield as five different drivers from five different teams were knocked out at the end of the run.
It looked like McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne (1m05.271s) will make it through to Q2 but a late quick lap from Williams’ Lance Stroll meant he was through to Q2 in 15th, demoting the Belgian to 16th by a mere 0.007s.
One of the big fishes to be knocked out was Force India’s Sergio Perez (1m05.279s) in 17th – the last time he couldn’t make it through to Q2 was in the 2016 season. The Mexican has looked off pace all-weekend when compared to his teammate Esteban Ocon.
With Stroll making it through, Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin (1m05.322s) was 18th ahead of Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley (1m05.366s) and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson (1m05.479s) – both of their teammates having a much better session.
At the front, it was already a different strategy among the big teams with the Ferrari drivers opting for the supersoft tyres but Hamilton stayed on top from Bottas with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in third. However, Haas’ Romain Grosjean did a good job to be fourth.
Q2:
While they had different strategy in Q1, the only one which counts for the race in Q2 with both the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers opting to use the supersoft tyres to set their best times. Ferrari going the other way with the ultrasoft tyres.
As a result, Vettel led Hamilton and Bottas in the session. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was forced to do do another run to be eighth after his initial quick lap was compromised due to a mistake – this could pose a problem in the race for him on Sunday.
Force India’s Esteban Ocon (1m04.845s) led the pack of the drivers not making through ahead of Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly (1m04.874s) behind him. Sauber’s Charles Leclerc (1m04.979s) was only 13th but he is set for a five-place penalty – dropping him to 18th.
McLaren’s Fernando Alonso (1m05.058s) went for a unique strategy of doing a lap on the soft tyres, but he was only 14th after damaging his front wing going over the yellow sausage kerbs as Stroll (1m05.286s) rounded out the Top 15.
Q3:
The first runs in the final part of qualifying painted a different picture as Bottas took the top spot with a 1m03.264s laptime followed by Raikkonen (1m03.729s). Hamilton was only third with Vettel seventh due to the mistakes they made in their runs.
Amid all this, Grosjean in his Haas kept the gas on in fourth beating both the Red Bull drivers. However, the Frenchman was eventually beaten by one of the Red Bulls at the end of the session.
Meanwhile, up front, Bottas remained unbeatable after the Finn improved further to clock a 1m03.130s laptime – defending his pole position from 2017. Teammate Hamilton improved as well to pop into second (1m03.149s), only 0.019s behind.
Vettel (1m03.464s) also improved to finish third from Raikkonen (1m03.660s), but the German is under investigation for impeding Carlos Sainz in Q2. Verstappen (1m03.840s) eventually finished fourth ahead of Grosjean (1m03.892s).
The Frenchman showing good performance joined by teammate Kevin Magnussen (1m04.051s) in eighth with Ricciardo (1m03.996s) in the Haas sandwich – the Australian made a mistake on his final lap which didn’t look like an improvement all through.
Replays showed of some in-decision between the two Red Bull drivers towards the end of the session with Verstappen in an argument with the pitwall over something. Meanwhile, Renault’s Sainz (1m04.725s) and Nico Hulkenberg (1m05.019s) completed the Top 10.
UPDATE: Vettel was handed a three-place penalty for impeding Sainz in Q2. The stewards held the Ferrari driver responsible for blocking the Spaniard’s quick lap. Vettel drops down to start Sunday’s race in sixth.
It also promotes teammate Raikkonen to third, Red Bull’s Verstappen to fourth and Haas’ Grosjean to fifth. The stewards also handed out one penalty point to Vettel, taking his total to six in the current 12-months period.
The steward’s explanation regarding the incident: “The stewards reviewed the video evidence, team radio and heard from the driver of Car five (Sebastian Vettel), the driver of Car 55 (Carlos Sainz) and team representatives.
“Car five had just finished a push lap and was on an in lap, travelling quite slowly into and around turn one, on the racing line. The driver conceded that he had passed Car 55 between turns seven and eight but assumed it had pitted after. However, Car 55 was actually commencing a push lap and closed on car five rapidly along the pit straight and into turn one.
“During evidence, the driver of Car 55 stated that he felt the driver of Car five was completely unaware of his approach. This was confirmed by the driver of Car five who stated he was unable to see Car 55 in his mirrors and that his team had not informed him of its approach, by radio. The latter was confirmed by the team representative.
“It is the belief of the stewards that notwithstanding the absence of a radio call, the driver of Car five, being aware of the issue of rear vision with his mirrors, should not have been so slow and on the racing line, during a slowdown lap in qualification.
“Having reviewed all alleged impeding incidents since the beginning of 2016, the penalty of a drop of three grid positions is consistent with all other similar incidents.”
