Hamilton wins pole position in Austria

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in the Austrian Grand Prix qualifying at Red Bull Ring and won the pole position for the Sunday’s race outpacing Nico Rosberg.

After rainy third free practice, conditions in the qualifying were slightly better. Main favorites went quite easy in the first round so until the last seconds almost every of 20 cars had a chance to go into the second round making this Q1 one of the most interesting in this season.

Nico Rosberg during qualifycations for the Austrian GP at Red Bull Ring

At the end, Nico Rosberg set the best result 1:10.976 followed by Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel. Out of Q2 stayed two former champions – Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button, as well Will Stevens, Roberto Merhi and Sergio Perez.

Mercedes continued to improve in the second qualifying round with Rosberg again on top with 1:08.634, 0.4 faster of his team mate, while Vettel in Ferrari had third fastest lap. It was big battle for plaves in the last round until the last second, but shorthanded this time stayed Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Marcus Ericsson, Pastor Maldonado and Daniel Ricciardo who missed Q3 for the first time this year.

Felipe Massa during qualifying session for the Formula 1 Austrian GP at Red Bull Ring

In the last round Mercedes remained unbeatable, but this reigning champion topped the rankings. Hamilton than spun and slided out of track at last turn in the final seconds but kept pole position in front of his team mate.

Places in the second row at start of Sunday’s race are won by Vettel and Felipe Massa, while from the third row of the grid will start Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas. Max Verstappen was seventh and Daniil Kvyat eighth but Russian must serve 10 places penalty grid due to change of engine. Felipe Nasr was ninth and Romain Grosjean tenth after he stayed in the garage during Q3 because of technical problems on his Lotus.