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Max Verstappen will start the Austria sprint race from pole position after claiming top spot in Friday qualifying from growing rival Lando Norris. The sprint qualifying rules left enough time for j…
Max Verstappen will start the Austria sprint race from pole position, having claimed the top spot in Friday’s qualifying session ahead of rival Lando Norris. The sprint qualifying rules allowed only one lap per driver in the top 10, resulting in a direct battle between Verstappen and Norris, both previous winners of sprint race poles this season. Verstappen secured his second sprint pole by edging out Norris by 0.093s. Norris will start behind Verstappen, with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in third. Lewis Hamilton qualified in sixth place after a challenging session, narrowly avoiding elimination in SQ1. Lance Stroll, once again outqualifying Fernando Alonso, continued his strong form for Aston Martin. Yuki Tsunoda and Logan Sargeant had their laps deleted for track limits violations, while Daniel Ricciardo missed out on progression by a mere 0.024s. In a disappointing turn, Zhou Guanyu qualified last for the fourth time in the last six sessions.
