Mercedes lockout the front of the grid in Austria
Mercedes continued their good form in Austria when they locked out the front of the grid in qualifying, although it isn’t defending champion Lewis Hamilton, who dominated free practice, but teammate Valtteri Bottas who followed up his 2017 pole at the same circuit, that will start from the front of the grid.
During the buildup it has looked like a battle between the Silver Arrows and Ferrari, qualifying now showcasing that this will be the case on Sunday, Raikkonen starting behind the Mercedes duo, and Vettel who will start sixth after being demoted three places following an inquiry into an incident with the German and Carlos Sainz during Q2
for @ValtteriBottas – your #AustrianGP pole man! pic.twitter.com/EuAWwnYXVC
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) June 30, 2018
It is starting to become clear that the 2018 Formula One World Championship will be decided by marginal gains, driver error and unreliability issues. In round 8 of the championship, two out of these three came into play, as Lewis Hamilton dominated free practice, qualifying and the race with the help of a ‘2.1’ spec engine upgrade, while Vettel collided with Bottas on the first corner, to dent both their hopes of a podium finish, in the first race held in France for 10-years.
As a result, Hamilton finds himself 14-points clear of his rival Vettel a week later at the Austrian Grand Prix, a race that Mercedes is looking to win for a 5th consecutive year.
The Silver Arrows have added an additional upgrade package for this weekend’s race, which includes revised sidepods, bargeboards, wing mirrors and rear-wing, one of the biggest aero upgrades Mercedes have ever delivered midseason.
The results have been pretty ominous for the rest of the field after Hamilton and Bottas dominated P1 and P2, however in P3 Vettel and Ferrari responded by knocking Hamilton off the top of the times with a lap record of 1:04.070, just 0.029s ahead of his rival.
Normal order was restored following a dominant qualifying display by Mercedes, although it does suggest that there could be battle between the two constructor’s rivals during the race itself.
Home advantage appears to have drifted away from Red Bull, the Renault-powered RB14 lapping 0.7s off the pace in P3, Max Verstappen finishing fifth and Daniel Ricciardo sixth in Q3, the latter out-qualified by Haas driver Romain Grosjean in qualifying, althougn due to the Vettel penalty, all three move up a place.
We maximised our result in qualifying and will be starting 5th. It was great to see so many orange in the grand stands. For me it’s only a motivation to give it my all tomorrow during the race #keeppushing #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/xFAhV5VqYk
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) June 30, 2018
McLaren’s problems continued with Stoffel Vandoorne failing to get out of Q3 and Fernando Alonso coming home in 14th place. There is currently an aerodynamic issue with the MCL33, which isn’t showing up in the wind tunnel, and as a result they have been forced to resolve the problem while on the circuit during race weekends, not ideal when there are five races in six weeks during a busy time of the F1 schedule.
Haas is the big winner during qualifying, Romain Grosjean finishing sixth quickest (who will start now fifth) and Kevin Magnussen who will start from eighth.
Renault’s Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenburg will start ninth and tenth respectively.
Austrian Grand Prix Q3 Times
Q3 CLASSIFICATION: Pole last year, pole this – well done, @ValtteriBottas #AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/tqtv6qxQRG
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 30, 2018
