Verstappen hails Austria pole as 'a great statement'

Max Verstappen hailed his dominant pole lap in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix as a great statement for Red Bull, which has failed to start from the front for the last three races.

Verstappen was last on pole in Imola, but found himself thwarted in Montreal, Monaco and Barcelona by George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris respectively, showing how close things currently are on the grid.

“It was a good day today," he said afterwards. "I am extremely happy that we got P1 in the Sprint and put it on pole in qualifying, and I'm really proud of the team that we were able to be so competitive."

While Verstappen was always one of the favourites to claim pole at Red Bull's home circuit, his sudden step up in form in Q2 and Q3 left his rivals with their jaws on their floor at his sudden margin of superiority.

"His lap in Q2 was a bit of a reality check for everyone and he could repeat it in Q3," said McLaren's Oscar Piastri. "The gap seemed to be a little bit bigger in that session for whatever reason. Max looked a step ahead of everyone."

• Read also: Verstappen 'in league of his own' as he flies to Austria GP pole

"It's insane how much faster they are in the high speed," Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton said. "I think they were 12-13kph faster which is a lot. I wouldn't say I am surprised."

Verstappen ended up four tenths ahead of Norris. Asked how he had managed to suddenly make such an improvement compared with his performances up to that point this weekend, Verstappen said: "I felt really good with the car and the balance was there.

“Of course the track is a bit warmer than yesterday so it made it all a bit trickier to drive, but the car felt a lot better for me today," he explained. "Every run was just on point and it was very enjoyable out there.

"I could really push and attack the corners, and I guess that then made it such a gap," he suggested. "Of course it's a short lap and the gap was quite big.

"It's been a while that I've felt like this in the car," he admitted. "The last few races I've always been very close in front or behind, so this was definitely very positive for the team.

"The team has been working really hard to try and make the car more competitive. I think this is a great statement and hopefully we can of course also show that tomorrow in the race.

"Hopefully it will be a tight battle again tomorrow, but we’ll see," he speculated. “I’m not thinking about that too much, I’m just very happy with how the car was performing today and hopefully it will translate also in race pace.”

"It is great to be on pole here at Red Bull Ring," said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. "It is always great to be back in Austria for our home race and in front of a home crowd.

"Today in both the Sprint race and Qualifying, Max put on an incredible performance and especially on a track where the margins are so small," he added. "All to play for tomorrow."

By comparison, Verstappen's team mate Sergio Perez was P8 and almost nine tenths slower at the end of the final round of qualifying, which the Mexican put down to a lack of fresh sets of tyres when they were most needed.

“I think it’s going to be everything really close out there tomorrow, so it will be an interesting battle.”

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