2019 Austrian GP qualifying Ferrari report: Charles P1, Sebastian P10

Charles Leclerc secured pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix, but Ferrari’s joy was tempered as a mechanical fault left Sebastian Vettel unable to set a lap in Q3.

As a result, the German will start tenth in Austria, continuing deep frustrations for the German at a track that the Scuderia have shown clear strength at. It has been Leclerc leading the charge, however, and the Monegasque backed up impressive pace in practice by taking his second career pole position, after Bahrain earlier this year, in a record-breaking 1:03.003.

That race ultimately in disappointment as a near-certain win was lost to an engine failure and Ferrari will be on high alert, having seen Vettel’s issue, which went unconfirmed by the chequered flag.

Lewis Hamilton qualified second, but faces stewards’ enquiry for blocking Kimi Raikkonen in Q1 and a three-place grid drop looks likely.

Max Verstappen beat Valtteri Bottas, pole-sitter in Austria for the past two years, to third on the grid and may fancy his chances of repeating last year’s victorious heroics if Hamilton does move backwards.

Kevin Magnussen was fifth-quickest, but drops to P10 with a gearbox penalty, while Pierre Gasly’s miserable run goes on as he qualified ninth behind both Alfa Romeos.

2019 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying Results
Pos	Driver	Nat	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	+ 0.331s	1m03.378s	1m03.003s
2	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	+ 0.011s	+ 0.425s	+ 0.259s
3	Max Verstappen	NED	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda	1m03.807s	+ 0.457s	+ 0.436s
4	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	+ 0.277s	+ 0.485s	+ 0.534s
5	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Rich Energy Haas F1 Team	+ 0.971s	+ 1.088s	+ 1.069s
6	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	+ 0.554s	+ 0.833s	+ 1.096s
7	Kimi Raikkonen	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing	+ 0.808s	+ 0.678s	+ 1.163s
8	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing	+ 0.643s	+ 0.816s	+ 1.176s
9	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda	+ 0.605s	+ 0.610s	+ 1.196s
10	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Scuderia Ferrari	+ 0.533s	+ 0.289s	no time
11	Romain Grosjean	FRA	Rich Energy Haas F1 Team	+ 0.745s	+ 1.112s
12	Nico Hulkenberg	GER	Renault F1 Team	+ 0.926s	+ 1.138s
13	Alexander Albon	THA	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	+ 0.901s	+ 1.287s
14	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	Renault F1 Team	+ 0.840s	+ 1.412s
15	Carlos Sainz	ESP	McLaren F1 Team	+ 0.646s	+ 10.223s
16	Sergio Perez	MEX	SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team	+ 0.982s
17	Lance Stroll	CAN	SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team	+ 1.025s
18	Daniil Kvyat	RUS	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	+ 1.517s
19	George Russell	GBR	ROKiT Williams Racing	+ 2.097s
20	Robert Kubica	POL	ROKiT Williams Racing	+ 2.399s