Lewis Hamilton convinces on the wet track from Spielberg. Sebastian Vettel has to put up with the next disappointment.
Lewis Hamilton masterfully secured pole position for the second Formula 1 race of the year in the rain of Spielberg. The English world champion gave the competition no chance in qualifying on the Red Bull Ring. Hamilton distanced Max Verstappen in second place in the Red Bull, McLaren man Carlos Sainz came third. The Englishman stormed to his first pole of the year, the 89th of his career.
Sebastian Vettel did not follow in the Ferrari. After eleventh place a week ago, it was only enough for the German to be tenth. He was almost 2.4 seconds off Hamilton (2.378). Vettel’s stable rival Charles Leclerc starts the race on Sunday (3:00 p.m. / RTL and Sky) from directly behind. “I had a big moment on the penultimate lap when my heart was almost in my pants,” said Hamilton. “I love these days.” Vettel & Co. had to do without a last warm-up. The final training was canceled for security reasons. That was the last time in October last year, when Typhoon Hagibis brought the premier class of motorsport in Japan to a standstill for a full day.
The weather swirled the schedule in Styria so well. The qualification was only released 46 minutes late. Previously, the heavy rains had ensured that the Formula 3 race in the supporting program of the motorsport premier class had been stopped after only twelve laps. The conditions had become too dangerous for the drivers.
A decisive factor for safety is always whether the rescue helicopter positioned on the course can take off. Dark clouds hung over the route. “Austria is always a challenging course when it comes to the weather,” said Formula 1 sports director Ross Brawn. “But we had to deal with such conditions before.”
The race management had long gone through the models, which would happen if, in the worst case, it would not have been possible to hunt for a starting place. Then the times from the last training session would have been used. That would have been fatal for Vettel, who was only 16th in the second free practice session. At 3:46 p.m., the stewards granted the desired release. And as the first pilot, the German ventured out. Vettel also secured the first fastest lap (1: 24.235 minutes). The times improved as a result.
The knockout phases did not end without incidents. So Antonio Giovinazzi slid off the track in his Alfa Romeo at the end of the first qualifying phase. Vettel, on the other hand, remained in control of his red racing car, even if it sometimes carried him over the curbs. After missing the entry into the decision-making process a week ago, he was spared this in the rain. Vettel entered tenth in the final knockout phase, while stable rival Leclerc missed a position in the top ten in eleventh.
“We just weren’t fast enough, we couldn’t do anything about it,” summed up the Monegasse. Then the rain didn’t let up. “Much more water is coming down,” said world champion Hamilton at the start of the crucial round. In an outstanding manner, he secured first place.
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