Russell claims controversial pole after Verstappen crash in Austria

Mercedes driver George Russell claimed pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix with a last-gasp Qualifying effort that usurped Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, moments after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dramatically crashed out of Q3.

Drivers were attacking their second and final runs of the pole shootout when Verstappen lost control of his car through Turn 9 and slammed into the barriers, bringing out yellow flags and threatening to derail plenty of laps.

While Kimi Antonelli – who held provisional pole after the first Q3 runs – backed out and failed to improve, team mate Russell navigated the yellows (insisting afterwards that he had lifted) to go a couple of tenths quicker than Leclerc and Hamilton, who were ahead of Verstappen on track and also found time.

It leaves Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton and Antonelli as the provisional top four on the grid for Sunday’s race, ahead of Verstappen, McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar, and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.

Pierre Gasly almost pushed Verstappen into the drop zone at the very end of Q2, but he ultimately missed out by four hundredths of a second in 11th, followed by the Audi and Haas drivers, and Alpine team mate Colapinto, who was seen running wide at Turn 1.

Williams’ challenging season continued via a double Q1 elimination, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon taking P17 and P18 respectively – the Spaniard missing out on a Q2 spot by mere hundredths himself after sliding through the final corner on his last lap.

Just behind them, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas had to make do with P19 and P20 for Cadillac, whose major update package could not propel them further towards F1’s midfield group, admittedly not helped by an incident-filled Friday for the American outfit.

Finally, as expected given their 2026 struggles so far, Aston Martin brought up the rear of the field, with Fernando Alonso beating Lance Stroll to 21st position – both drivers no doubt eager for the team’s promised major developments to be rolled out as soon as possible.

Q1

After a trio of Red Bull Ring practice sessions topped by Mercedes (Antonelli leading the way in FP1 and FP2, and Russell in FP3), attention turned to the all-important Qualifying hour, and what promised to be one of the closest encounters of the season.

As the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane at 16:00 local time, amid roasting air and track temperatures, plenty of drivers were unsurprisingly quick to leave their garages, head out onto the track and get some early ‘banker’ laps in.

Ocon was the first to get a time on the board, clocking a 1:09.083s, which Hulkenberg dipped under a few moments later, and Russell then comfortably beat with a 1:07.811s – albeit still significantly away from the pace he set in FP3.

As the rest of the front-runners filtered through and completed their opening runs, Antonelli moved to the top of the times on a 1m 07.083s, ahead of Norris, Hamilton, the Red Bulls, Piastri and Leclerc, with Russell dropping all the way down to eighth.

After a very leisurely cool-down lap, Russell went again on the same set of soft tyres, improving to a time of 1:07.591s, but remaining in eighth position – around half a second adrift of his championship-leading team mate, and reporting “four wheels sliding”.

Elsewhere, Gasly and Bearman occupied the final top 10 places over the Racing Bulls of Lawson and Lindblad, in an ultra-close midfield scrap, while Sainz, the Cadillacs, early runner Ocon and the struggling Aston Martins sat in the Q1 drop zone.

As the session entered its final five minutes and the majority of drivers rejoined the track on fresh tyres, another flurry of personal best sectors lit up the timing screens, leading to more movement throughout the field before and after the chequered flag.

While Antonelli remained in P1 with his earlier time, having backed out of a second run, Lawson leapt up the order to fourth, just behind Norris and Hamilton, and Russell got a more competitive lap in to go fifth, from the Red Bulls, Piastri, Leclerc and Lindblad.

At the other end of the order, Ocon made a significant improvement to get himself out of danger, joining team mate Bearman, the Alpines and the Audis, with Sainz just missing out for Williams after experiencing a wild slide through the final corner.

Albon dropping out in P18 made it a double Q1 elimination for Williams, alongside the Cadillacs of Perez and Bottas, despite significant upgrades from F1’s newcomers this weekend, with Alonso and Stroll occupying their now usual positions at the very back.

Knocked out: Sainz, Albon, Perez, Bottas, Alonso, Stroll

Q2

After a short break, the silence was broken by the sound of the 16 remaining F1 cars taking to the track for Q2, with Antonelli picking up where he left off and going quickest on a 1:06.763s, marginally faster than Piastri, Leclerc and Hamilton.

Verstappen and Hadjar were next up on used tyres, followed by Norris, Gasly (who ran wide at the final corner) and the Racing Bulls, leaving Colapinto, the Audis, the Haas cars and Russell – after running too deep at Turn 3 and backing out of it – in the drop zone.

“George, just drive,” was the message from Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff to Russell after that moment, bringing a much-improved 1:06.979s on his next lap, which put him fourth, behind Antonelli, Piastri and Norris, who also found a chunk of time.

Hamilton and Leclerc safely progressed in the Ferraris, along with the Red Bulls and Racing Bulls machines, though four-time World Champion Verstappen came extremely close to a shock Q2 exit as the final laps came in – a few hundredths of a second saving him.

Gasly was closest to overhauling the Dutchman, agonisingly missing out on a Q3 spot in 11th, with the Audis of Bortoleto and Hulkenberg, Haas duo Bearman and Ocon, and the other Alpine of Colapinto (via a moment at Turn 1) also being eliminated.

Knocked out: Gasly, Bortoleto, Bearman, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Colapinto

Q3

With six more cars removed from the running, it was time for the main event: the pole position shootout. Could Antonelli convert his Q1 and Q2 pace? Could Russell come back fighting? Or could the likes of McLaren and Ferrari cause an upset?

Over the first runs, Antonelli pumped in a 1:06.414s to state his intentions once more, edging out Russell on a 1:06.457s and Verstappen on a 1:06.475s – from Piastri, Leclerc, Norris, Hadjar, Lawson, Lindblad and Hamilton, who went off at Turn 3 and abandoned his first lap.

When it came to the second runs, Ferrari made the first move and sent the crowd wild with provisional pole laps from Hamilton and then Leclerc, while Verstappen was also on the money and looked set to topple the pair of them.

However, as Verstappen threw his Red Bull into Turn 9, the rear-end gave way, dramatically sending him across the gravel and into the barriers at high speed, and also forcing Race Control to issue yellow flags to cover the incident.

Antonelli completely backed out of his lap, but Russell pressed on – via a lift through the corner that had caught out Verstappen – and subsequently went a couple of tenths quicker than Leclerc and Hamilton, with Antonelli demoted to fourth.

Verstappen placed fifth despite his crash, followed by Norris and Piastri, with Hadjar, Lawson and Lindblad rounding out the top 10 positions.

The 2026 Austrian Grand Prix is set to begin at 15:00 local time on Sunday (14:00 GMT). Can Russell convert this pole into a victory or could Ferrari once again pounce to take the top step of the podium?