F1-Austrian GP: Bottas beats Hamilton to pole by 0.019s


Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas claimed his first pole position of the 2018 Formula 1 season in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Bottas, whose last pole position came in last year’s season finale in Abu Dhabi, hit the front in the Q3 top 10 shootout with a lap of 1m03.264s on his first run – almost half-a-second faster than nearest rival Kimi Raikkonen.

Teammate Lewis Hamilton ran deep into the Turn 3 hairpin on his first run and ended up third on first runs, but the final runs turned into a shootout between the two Mercedes drivers.

On his final lap, Bottas shaded Hamilton in the first and third sector, with Hamilton only two thousandths faster in the middle sector – adding up to pole position by 19 thousandths of a second.

Sebastian Vettel made a mistake on his first Q3 attempt but jumped from seventh to third on his final run ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

The Ferraris will start tomorrow’s race on the ultrasoft tyres, having used them to set their Q2 times, while Hamilton and Bottas will have supersofts.

Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were fifth and seventh, having made three attempts in Q3 after using supersofts to set their Q2 times.

They were split by the Haas of Romain Grosjean.

Kevin Magnussen, in the second Haas, took eighth place ahead of Renault pairing Carlos Sainz Jr and Nico Hulkenberg.

Esteban Ocon ended up 11th after his final Q2 lap fell almost two tenths of a second short of beating Hulkenberg, who improved by enough on his second run to jump ahead of the Force India.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas claimed his first pole position of the 2018 Formula 1 season in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Bottas, whose last pole position came in last year's season finale in Abu Dhabi, hit the front in the Q3 top 10 shootout with a lap of 1m03.264s on his first run – almost half-a-second faster than nearest rival Kimi Raikkonen.

Teammate Lewis Hamilton ran deep into the Turn 3 hairpin on his first run and ended up third on first runs, but the final runs turned into a shootout between the two Mercedes drivers.

On his final lap, Bottas shaded Hamilton in the first and third sector, with Hamilton only two thousandths faster in the middle sector – adding up to pole position by 19 thousandths of a second.

Sebastian Vettel made a mistake on his first Q3 attempt but jumped from seventh to third on his final run ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

The Ferraris will start tomorrow's race on the ultrasoft tyres, having used them to set their Q2 times, while Hamilton and Bottas will have supersofts.

Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were fifth and seventh, having made three attempts in Q3 after using supersofts to set their Q2 times.

They were split by the Haas of Romain Grosjean.

Kevin Magnussen, in the second Haas, took eighth place ahead of Renault pairing Carlos Sainz Jr and Nico Hulkenberg.

Esteban Ocon ended up 11th after his final Q2 lap fell almost two tenths of a second short of beating Hulkenberg, who improved by enough on his second run to jump ahead of the Force India.

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