LONDON — George Russell produced a dramatic late and contentious fastest lap in his Mercedes on Saturday to claim pole position ahead of the two Ferraris for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
The 28-year-old Briton, who had struggled to outpace his teammate championship leader Kimi Antonelli in Friday’s practice, swept into the prime grid position with a lap in one minute and 06.113 seconds – including a need to lift through a section of waved yellow flags.
His lap took him 0.236 seconds clear of Charles Leclerc and 0.295 ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in a sensational conclusion to a closely-fought qualifying session.
Italian teenager Antonelli qualified fourth after seeing and obeying the double waved yellow flags on his late flying lap by slowing down after four-time champion Max Verstappen crashed in his Red Bull.
“I feel incredible, it was such an amazing lap,” said Russell. “I saw the yellow and did a big lift into the corner. It was a single yellow (flag) so it should be okay.”
Russell’s assessment was confirmed when the stewards announced no further action was to be taken against Russell.
Despite his crash, Verstappen wound up fifth ahead of defending world champion Lando Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and the two Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and impressive British rookie Arvid Lindblad.
“I’m relatively happy about today,” said Leclerc according to AFP. “The last few weekends have been quite tough so I just wanted a clean weekend and qualifying. Second is a good place to start.”
Hamilton said: “To have the two Ferraris in second and third is fantastic and a reflection of the amazing work back at the factory. They’ve brought small bits here, they’ve worked hard to upgrade our engine. I’m just really proud of everybody.”
The session began with Esteban Ocon leading the way in torrid heat with a track temperature of 54 degrees and the air at 34, conditions that led to the event being declared a ‘heat hazard’ race that permits drivers to wear cooling vests under their race-suits.
Leclerc congratulated Russell as investigations began and it emerged that Antonelli, who was faster still, had backed off after seeing the signals which, in his case were ‘double’ waved yellows while Russell had seen single yellows.
