Reigning world champion Max Verstappen has ripped F1 stewards after a slew of track limits infractions in qualifying for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix left his peers looking like “amateurs”.
Verstappen put his Red Bull on pole for the sixth time this season by less than half a tenth over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
But Verstappen and other drivers were annoyed after a string of lap times were deleted – particularly in the second of the three-part qualifying session – for straying outside the white lines that define the edge of the Red Bull Ring circuit.
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Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez both had laps deleted in Q2. While Verstappen was able to set a second lap without infraction, Perez was not. He will start Sunday’s race from 15th.
While Verstappen has four-straight poles, Perez now has four-straight starts outside the top-10.
“It’s clearly not that easy and I don’t think we’re all idiots out there,” Verstappen said after qualifying.
“Today, it was very silly. It made us look like amateurs with the amount of laps that were being deleted and some of them were so marginal … It was not a good look today.
“People will say, ‘You should have kept the car in the white lines’. If it was that easy, you can take my car and try it, but you probably wouldn’t get up to speed in time.”
McLaren brought to Austria a raft of updates for their car, but only for Lando Norris, who put in a sensational qualifying performance and will line up fourth.
“I really am (delighted), to be honest, it’s just I messed up my lap a bit,” Norris told the F1 website.
“I should have had Carlos (Sainz, P3), but it’s just a should have. I’m still very happy, P4 is still very good for us, especially for a main quali.”
Norris’ teammate, Aussie Oscar Piastri will get the updated parts for next weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
But even without the upgrades, Piastri looked to have made it through to Q3 when he, too lost a lap time for exceeding track limits. He will start the grand prix from 13th.
The Austrian Grand Prix is F1’s second sprint event of the season. Drives will compete in a shorter qualifying session on Saturday night (AEST), before the sprint race in the early hours of Sunday.
The grand prix will start at 11pm on Sunday evening.
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