Leclerc snatches pole in Spielberg for Ferrari but Vettel misses out on Q3 with mechanical; Hamilton demoted 3-spots for Q1 infraction after running second fastest

It was an intriguing qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria on Saturday as Ferrari found superior pace on this short, high speed circuit and actually managed to put Mercedes on the back foot. Confirming the trends in practice, young Charles Leclerc pushed his Prancing Horse to the pole position for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, besting Lewis Hamilton’s fastest lap in his Silver Arrow by a rather hefty .26 seconds. Worse still for Hamilton and team Mercedes the season’s points leader was demoted three places via a penalty for blocking Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen in Q1. So that will give Hamilton that much more to do come race day when he starts from P5 on the grid instead of on the front row.

But, as has so often been the case this year, the news for Ferrari was not all good despite their pace advantage over the Mercs. Their senior driver, Sebastian Vettel, continued his recent run of bad luck when an air pressure line to his engine failed, denying the German the chance to run in Q3 and relegating him to a P10 start. It was exactly the sort of thing the star-crossed German did not need on a day when he should have been contending for pole against his upstart teammate, as well as sticking it to Mercedes. Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas also continued to sputter, or perhaps find his true level after a deceptively strong start to 2019, when he was out-qualified by Red Bull’s Max Vertsappen, P3 to P4. Hamilton’s penalty also elevates both drivers and that means the Dutchman, who enjoyed boisterous support from his orange-clad countrymen in the stands here, will start on the font row alongside Leclerc. Watching those two young guns duke it out as they race away from the starting line could be worth the price of admission by itself, especially as the Ferrari will run its opening stint on Soft Pirrellis while the Red Bull will be on the Mediums.

Kevin Magnussen gave scuffling Haas a bit of hope by posting the fifth fastest time but he will drop five positions on the grid due to a gearbox change penalty. Lando Norris was the only McClaren to make it into Q3 and laid down the sixth fastest lap. The two Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeos acquitted themselves very well, with Raikkonen slotting in at P7 and Antonio Giovinazzi in P8. And Verstappen’s teammate Pierre Gasly was once again miles behind him with only the ninth fastest time, which must be disappointing for the Red Bull team as well as ominous for Gasly’s future in that notoriously impatient squad.

Top 10 qualifying times for the Austrian:

Complete qualifying results — and adjusted grid — available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 9AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Ferrari’s race pace is as good as what they showed today in quali!