Formula 1

George Russell grabs pole position from Leclerc and Hamilton for Austrian GP

Fraser Masefield
4 months ago
3 min read

George Russell grabbed a last gasp pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix with his final flying lap, despite a late Max Verstappen crash sending the results into confusion.


It had looked as if the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton may have secured a front row lockout as the Dutchman crashed out on his final flying lap.

Verstappen, who had been quickest through the middle sector, lost control of his Red Bull – seemingly bringing out double waved yellow flags before Russell’s next quickest time.

It meant that his time would have been deleted. But a later investigation proved Russell had lifted off through a flashing single yellow and green light, meaning his lap was valid.

“Such an amazing lap,” commented Russell afterwards. “I saw the yellow, I had a big lift into the corner.

“I was five tenths up and I came out the last corner two and a half tenths up.

“So, you know, it was a single yellow as well, not a double, so should be okay. It was a tough day, but it was so special to get that lap, and everything felt so sweet.”

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There were no huge complaints from Ferrari and team principal Fred Vasseur afterwards.

And both Leclerc and Hamilton will line up an encouraging second and third ahead of the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli.

Despite his late crash, Verstappen starts fifth ahead of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad round out the top ten.


“Yeah, I’m relatively happy about today,” said Leclerc afterwards.

“Of course, the last few weekends have been quite tough, so I just wanted to have a clean weekend and most of all a clean qualifying to start well for tomorrow.

“So, yeah, to start second is a good place to start on. The team have been pushing massively in order to bring up grades in Barcelona and again this weekend and that pays off.

“If I’m completely honest, I didn’t think we’ll be starting on the front row until qualifying, really.”

And for Ferrari’s newest winner Hamilton, there will be another chance for victory in race trim if everything goes to plan.

I mean, to have the two Ferraris in second and third, I think it’s fantastic,” added Hamilton.

“And it’s just a reflection of the amazing work that everyone’s doing back at the factory because they really are continuing to push.

“We brought small bits here. Obviously, they worked hard to upgrade our engine for this track.

“So I’m just really proud of everybody because you could just see how hard everyone’s working and it’s really starting to pay off.”

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Fraser Masefield

Fraser is a sports and motorsports editor with over 25 years experience. The former head editor of WilliamsF1, BMW Motorsport, Jaguar Racing and Virgin Media, he has also worked for Autosport, ESPNF1 and Eurosport amongst others.

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