Max Verstappen secures pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix as triple world champion follows victory in sprint race on Red Bull’s home track by finishing ahead of Lando Norris and George Russell

Max Verstappen shot to pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix, destroying the field on his Red Bull’s sun-drenched home circuit in Spielberg.

Amid the green mountains of Styria, the three-time world champion followed up his sprint race victory on Saturday morning to seal his dominance ahead of Sunday’s 71-lap main event.

The three-time world champion put aside the feud between his father Jos and boss Christian Horner, which stood in the way of a smooth build-up. Verstappen said the row, over whether Jos took part in a pre-race parade in Sebastian Vettel’s old Red Bull, was ‘not fun and could have been avoided’. This turned out to be a thinly veiled criticism of Horner, who had indicated that he did not want to involve his critic Jos in the ceremonies.

On the track, Verstappen was cheered on by thousands of orange-clad fans from the Netherlands and achieved his fourth pole position in a row.

He finished 0.404 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, a dominant margin on the shortest 10-turn lap on the calendar. Mercedes’ George Russell qualified third, half a second behind. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fourth-quickest and Lewis Hamilton fifth.

Three-time world champion Verstappen followed up his victory in the sprint race on Saturday

Charles Leclerc drove his Ferrari off the track – overturned for the umpteenth time. He reported to the garage that he had damaged the bottom of his car. He was sixth fastest.

In a sign of Verstappen’s brilliance, his teammate Sergio Perez finished only eighth, one place behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

“Max was in a class of his own today,” said Norris.

A bad day for Aston Martin. Lance Stroll, who signed a new multi-year contract to remain with the team owned by his father Lawrence, crashed out in Q1 and will start 17th. His team-mate Fernando Alonso, who squeezed through in Q2, could only start 15th, an example of how Aston is struggling to maintain the form that saw them at the top of the grid at the start of last season.

Verstappen finished ahead of Lando Norris (L) in second and George Russell (R) in third

Carlos Sainz finished fourth in qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton in fifth

Charles Leclerc went off the track in his Ferrari and finished sixth in qualifying

Alonso has scored in just one of the last four races, a decline he will be looking to rectify based on this evidence.

Daniel Ricciardo needs a strong performance to salvage his career at Red Bull’s junior team, RB. The 34-year-old Australian has failed to set the world alight since returning to the cockpit after being sacked by McLaren and the team’s hierarchy are losing patience. Ricciardo qualified at least three places ahead of team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in 11th.

Red Bull’s motorsport advisor said this week that reserve driver Liam Lawson is ready, an ominous statement for Ricciardo.