Charles Leclerc stayed cool in the heat to claim a convincing pole for Ferrari with a track record lap on Saturday, outpacing Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes by two-tenths of a second in the Austrian Grand Prix.
The 21-year-old Monegasque clocked his best lap of one minute and 3.003 seconds in the final seconds of a dramatic session that saw his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel unable to run due to an air pressure problem.
Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull ahead of Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas who had taken pole for the last two years.
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Struggle
Hamilton struggled for outright speed and faced a stewards’ inquiry after the session following an incident in Q1 when he appeared to obstruct Kimi Raikkonen.
“The car felt amazing,” said a delighted Leclerc, having claimed his second career pole — following his success in Bahrain.
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