SPIELBERG, Austria: As a relentless Max Verstappen clinched his third straight pole position with a commanding drive for Red Bull at the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday, his title rival Lewis Hamilton could only manage fourth place on the day flagging Mercedes announced his two-year contract extension.
Verstappen's latest pole was on his team's home track at the Red Bull ring, where he won from pole last weekend. The Formula One championship leader is aiming for a third straight victory and a fifth in a row for Red Bull. But it's a measure of his form that he thinks he could have done better.
“I am happy to be on pole, but not the way we like it,” Verstappen said. “I didn’t expect to lose so much time on the straights, but that’s what we’ll know for next time."
Hamilton was under pressure in his final lap and went too wide on the last two turns. The seven-time defending F1 champion was even upstaged by 21-year-old countryman Lando Norris, who qualified second for McLaren ahead of Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez — who has also won a race this season.
Norris almost caught Verstappen, too, placing just .05 seconds behind him.
“I feel epic," the jubilant Norris shouted on team radio. "Probably one of the best laps I’ve done.”
In clinching the first of his three career podiums on the same track last year, Norris became the youngest British driver on a podium and third-youngest overall behind Lance Stroll and Verstappen.
The ultra-consistent Norris is the only driver to have scored points in all eight races so far. But he is cautious about his chances of challenging Red Bull and Mercedes for a first victory.
“We’re not as quick as them and a lot of things are not possible compared to them,” he said. “But we maximized our potential.”
Verstappen leads Hamilton 5-2 in poles this season and the pressure is on Hamilton, who trails Verstappen by 18 points and 4-3 for wins.
A bad day for Mercedes saw Valtteri Bottas qualifying in fifth.
Cool and overcast conditions had been forecast for the final practice and qualifying, which would have favored Mercedes, but warm weather and sporadic bursts of sunshine splashed the Red Bull ring.
One grandstand was packed with orange-shirted Dutch fans cheering on the 23-year-old Verstappen every time he drove past. Others sat on grass banks dotted around the 4.3-kilometer (2.7-mile) circuit nestled in the Styrian mountains.
The Dutch will party Saturday night to celebrate Verstappen's seventh career pole, in hopes of a 15th career win Sunday.
In the first section of qualifying, known as Q1, Verstappen showed his intent.
He topped the charts with Hamilton .26 seconds adrift and only fourth fastest behind two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and Norris.
Hamilton moved to the top in Q2, only for the Dutch contingent to roar as Verstappen replaced him. He topped Q2 by .331 seconds from Hamilton and .449 from Bottas.
There were celebrations in the Williams garage as George Russell scraped it into Q3 with 10th place — quite an achievement in a car lacking genuine pace.
Williams pushed both Ferraris out of Q2, with Carlos Sainz Jr. placing 11th and Charles Leclerc 12th.
Earlier Saturday, Verstappen dominated the third and final practice.
The Red Bull driver finished .54 seconds ahead of Bottas and a sizable .69 in front of Hamilton.
Verstappen's main time gains were in terms of straight-line speed — a familiar strength this season — and on corners 1 and 3.
“Breaking too early and carrying too much speed into the apex,” was the answer given to Hamilton by his race engineer, when Hamilton asked why he was losing time on Turn 3.
Frenchman Pierre Gasly was an impressive fourth for AlphaTauri, while four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel was 10th for Aston Martin. The track announcer wished a happy birthday to the 34-year-old German before the session started.
Verstappen waited until nearly the halfway point of the hour-long run before coming out on track and rocketed up the leaderboard.
Earlier Saturday, Hamilton agreed to a two-year contract extension with Mercedes until the end of 2023.
He is having a tougher fight than many predicted this season.
Max Verstappen takes pole for Austrian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton 4th
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Max Verstappen takes pole for Austrian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton 4th
- Hamilton was under pressure in his final lap and went too wide on the last two turns
- Lando Norris qualified second for McLaren ahead of Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez
Pakistan face arch-rivals India today in blockbuster T20 World Cup clash in Colombo
- Cricket contest takes place amid surging political tensions between India and Pakistan after their May 2025 clash
- Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav says team will decide whether or not to shake hands with Pakistani cricketers
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan take on defending champions and arch-rivals India today, Sunday, in Colombo in a highly anticipated T20 World Cup 2026 clash between the two sides.
The Group A fixture between the two sides will not just be important for the on-field cricket action but also because of the political tensions between the neighbors. India and Pakistan engaged in a brief military confrontation in May 2025 which came to a halt after Washington brokered a ceasefire.
However, political tensions spilled over onto the cricket field when Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav opted out of shaking hands with his Pakistani counterpart before the toss at their Asia Cup encounter last year in September. The Indian team refused to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts in all three matches of the tournament, triggering a strong protest from Pakistan.
Tensions surged again after Pakistan’s government announced earlier this month it would not allow its team to play against India in the World Cup in solidarity with Bangladesh. The South Asian country was replaced with Scotland after it refused to play its matches in India due to security reasons. Pakistan criticized the move and announced boycotting the Feb. 15 match against India. However, Islamabad later took back its decision to boycott the match after negotiations with the International Cricket Council.
“The game should be played in real spirit, the way it has been played since it started,” Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha said at the pre-match press conference on Saturday. “The rest is up to them (India), what they want to do.”
Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav did not commit whether his team will shake hands with Pakistan or not on Sunday.
“Why are you highlighting that?” Yadav asked reporters. “We are here to play cricket. We will play good cricket. We will take all those calls tomorrow. We will see tomorrow.”
Political and military tensions have meant the two teams have not played a bilateral series for years.
India has not traveled to Pakistan since 2008 and Pakistan visited India for the 50-over World Cup in 2023 but has since played ICC tournaments at neutral venues.
India has defeated Pakistan 12 times in the 16 T20 games they have played. They also have an impressive 6-1 record in the eight T20 World Cup matches since the first edition in 2007, with one being tied.
“We don’t have a good record against them in World Cups,” Agha admitted. “But whenever you come to play a new match, it’s a new day and you have to play good cricket to win.
“You can’t change history. You can learn from it. We learned from it and we’ll try to do a good performance tomorrow and win the match.”
Both sides have won their two fixtures so far, with India beating the USA and Namibia while Pakistan have defeated the Netherlands and the USA as well.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super Eight stage of the World Cup.
The match is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Pakistan Standard Time.
