Max Verstappen overcame Red Bull’s ‘weak point’ to secure pole position

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will start Saturday’s sprint qualifying race from pole position, after going quickest in Q3 in Friday qualifying.

Verstappen snatched his 16th career pole position, and third of the 2022 season, by setting the fastest time of qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.

While the weekend’s Grand Prix grid will be determined by the results of Saturday’s sprint qualifying race, Verstappen set the fastest single-lap of the weekend during the traditional qualifying session.

With Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz locking out the front row as the chequered flag flew, Verstappen put in an impressive final sector to snatch pole position away and prevent a Scuderia 1-2 for the start of Saturday’s sprint.

It was a disrupted session, due to two separate red flags due to the two Mercedes drivers crashing out in two separate incidents, and Verstappen said this had disrupted the rhythm of the Q3 part of qualifying.

“It was a bit tricky. I think the long wait is never amazing,” he told Sky F1 after qualifying.

“Then we went out, [and] my Turns 1 and 3 were not the best. So I knew that the rest of the lap needed to be pretty spot on here to be able to do something.

“I think especially the last sector was a lot better than what I’ve done before. More on the edge [with] the track limits and yeah, it was good. It was close, and I knew it was going to be close. But, of course, it’s always nice to just be ahead.

“It was a very long wait between the two runs and that’s never great. Once you’re in a rhythm, it’s nice to just keep on going. Also, the track temperatures dropping, the wind was changing a little bit but, at the end, it was a very tight qualifying and it’s a really challenging track as well to get everything right there.

“[There’s] not that many corners, but the corners you have are quite tricky and easy to make a mistake. I’m very happy with pole. But I also know that tomorrow and Sunday [are where] you can get the points.”

A familiar 🅿️arking spot 😄 Leaving it to the very last second 😍 #AustrianGP 🇦🇹pic.twitter.com/ML2UyHIuYX

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 8, 2022

With the reigning champion set to start the race just ahead of the two Ferraris, with both red cars within a tenth of a second, Verstappen said he was thrilled to have overcome the Red Bull’s weak point.

“It’s been like this whole year already. Sometimes [Ferrari are] ahead, sometimes we…