SPIELBERG, Austria: Valtteri Bottas upstaged Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton on Saturday to take pole position for Formula One’s season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.
The Finnish driver edged out the world champion by .012 seconds at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third place and Lando Norris giving McLaren a boost by finishing fourth. Verstappen has won the past two years here.
Bottas had the leading time when drivers embarked on their final laps and beat his own mark before sliding off the track into the gravel.
Hamilton was chasing a record-extending 89th career pole. He was ahead but then dropped off slightly as Bottas secured a 12th career pole.
Ferrari struggled for speed, with Charles Leclerc nearly one second behind in seventh and Sebastian Vettel failing to make it into the third and final part of qualifying, known as Q3. He starts the race from 11th on the grid.
Vettel is leaving Ferrari at the end of the season with his future in F1 uncertain.
Earlier, Hamilton posted the fastest time in morning practice. The 35-year-old British driver was also quickest in both sessions on Friday.
Midway through third practice, F1 newcomer Nicholas Latifi misjudged the exit of a turn and spun his Williams car into a protective tire wall.
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas takes pole position for season-opening Austrian Grand Prix
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Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas takes pole position for season-opening Austrian Grand Prix
- The Finnish driver edged out the world champion by .012 seconds
Sweden’s Ekstrom takes Dakar stage seven win in Saudi Arabia
- Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah stays top in the car category
WADI AL-DAWASI: Mattias Ekstrom won stage seven of the Dakar Rally on Sunday as the field started the second week in Saudi Arabia with late drama for Toyota’s Henk Lategan while Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah stayed top in the car category.
South African Lategan had looked like taking the stage and overall lead but let both slip through his fingers after the day’s final checkpoint.
Instead, Sweden’s Ekstrom, winner of the prologue in a Ford Raptor, became the first driver in the top car category to take more than one stage this year.
Lategan had led Ekstrom after 417 of 459km from Riyadh to Wadi Al-Dawasir, but finished eight minutes and 35 seconds behind the winner after having to stop for 10 minutes at the 428km mark.
Ekstrom moved up to second overall, four minutes and 47 seconds behind Dacia Sandriders’ five-times Dakar winner Al-Attiyah with Lategan third.
Spaniard Nani Roma was fourth for Ford after being reinstated by stewards late on Saturday’s rest day as winner of stage five and having a one minute and 10 second penalty rescinded.
In the motorcycle category, Australian Daniel Sanders extended his lead over American rival Ricky Brabec to four minutes and 25 seconds with Argentine rider Luciano Benavides a further 15 seconds adrift.
Sanders had been a mere 45 seconds clear after Friday’s sixth stage but Honda’s Brabec finished the 459km stage 10th to the Australian’s fourth.
Argentine Benavides won the stage, his second triumph of the event, in a one-two for the Red Bull KTM factory team with Spaniard Edgar Canet, while Honda’s French challenger Adrien Van Beveren was third.
Monday’s 481km stage eight is the longest of the race with riders and drivers navigating canyons and dunes around Wadi Ad Dawasir.
