Verstappen edges Leclerc for Austrian GP pole; Perez 15th

Max Verstappen claimed a fourth straight Formula 1 pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix, edging out Charles Leclerc by just 0.048s.

The World Champion found time on his second push lap in Q3, but a purple Sector 2 from Leclerc had the Ferrari in range of the 1:04.391 benchmark set by the Red Bull.

Verstappen just held on by less than half-a-tenth to take his fourth consecutive pole both at the Red Bull Ring and in the 2023 season.

Carlos Sainz was third for Ferrari with Lando Norris out-qualifying Lewis Hamilton with fourth as Sergio Perez suffered another Qualifying nightmare, with multiple laps being deleted in Q2 to leave him 15th for Sunday's race.

Q3

Verstappen did enjoy a 0.206s buffer to Leclerc after the first Q3 runs, shaving off a further 0.112s to set the benchmark for the chasing pack.

Leclerc came closest to doing so, but fell just short, although he did secure a first front-row slot since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix - the previous Sprint race.

Teammate Sainz was 0.190s behind the Verstappen time in a Ferrari two-three, as Norris used the freshly upgraded McLaren to star throughout the session.

He was nearly 0.150s up on Hamilton in the Mercedes, with the seven-time champion set to share the third row with Lance Stroll's Aston Martin.

Stroll out-qualified Fernando Alonso for the second time in 2023 by just 0.018s, with Nico Hulkenberg eighth for Haas.

Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon also made it through to Q3, with Albon's second lap of the segment being deleted for track limits late on.

Perez, Russell both knocked out in Q2

The story of Q2 was dominated by track limits once again as Perez suffered multiple laps being chalked off.

His final effort of a 1:04.990 was good enough to see him slot in P2 behind segment-topper Verstappen, but this time was deleted.

It meant his fastest time was 61s behind Verstappen, meaning he will start Sunday's race in 15th - the fourth consecutive race in which he has failed to reach Q3.

The other big name driver eliminated was George Russell in 11th, just 0.041s behind Albon's Williams - the Mercedes also suffering a lap-time deletion.

On scrubbed tyres, Russell's final effort was not good enough as Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas and Oscar Piastri joined Perez in being knocked out.

Verstappen's 1:04.951 topped the session - the Red Bull having suffered his own lap-time deletion early on.

Q1

After Verstappen had set the initial pace in the first segment, Bottas span at Turn 1, triggering a brief red flag while he tried to get the Alfa Romeo going again, but Verstappen and Hamilton were among those to lose their laps for exceeding track limits.

In the end, with the final flying lap of the session, Bottas was able to move himself out of the drop zone, meaning Yuki Tsunoda was knocked out by just 0.021s.

He was joined by Zhou Gaunyu in the second Alfa, Logan Sargeant for Williams, Haas driver Kevin Magnussen and the underfire Nyck de Vries in the sister AlphaTauri to Tsunoda - the Dutchman out by 0.211s.

The other Dutchman, Verstappen pumped in a 1:05.116 to top the segment, 0.061s ahead of Perez.