Saturday, June 26th 2021
Hamilton beaten again
Verstappen dominates F1 qualifying in Spielberg
World champion Lewis Hamilton has to admit defeat to Max Verstappen again. The Red Bull driver prevailed in qualifying for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Styria. For Sebastian Vettel in the Aston Martin it is only enough for 14th place, things are even worse for Mick Schumacher.
After the next success against world champion Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen showed the winning fist relieved. “I had a good lap and I’m very happy to be on pole here at home,” said the Formula 1 leader. The 23-year-old raced into first place on the grid in Spielberg on Saturday. With this, the Dutchman finally earned the role of favorite for the Styrian Grand Prix on Sunday (3 p.m. / Sky and in the ntv.de live ticker) on his employer’s Red Bull Ring. He has already won twice on the course in Austria – just like Hamilton.
The defending champion had to be content with second place and will at least go into the Grand Prix from the front row. “He was so fast this weekend,” said the British Mercedes driver, praising his worst World Cup opponent, Verstappen. In fact, Hamilton would only have been third because team-mate Valtteri Bottas set the second fastest time. The Finn is only allowed to go out on the track from fifth place after a penalty on the starting grid. That is why the Brit Lando Norris in a McLaren came in third, somewhat surprisingly. Ex-world champion Sebastian Vettel as 14th and Mick Schumacher as 19th disappointed.
“Don’t have the speed”
“We don’t have the speed to overtake them,” said Hamilton of Verstappen’s Red Bull and his team-mate Sergio Perez. The seven-time champion is expecting a difficult race. “But we give everything. Maybe there will be a surprise or rain,” said Hamilton.
Verstappen, who leads with twelve points ahead of Hamilton before the eighth round of the season, is expecting an easy game, but not. “It’s never easy. You always want that, but it will certainly be very tight,” he said. Nevertheless, so far he has had “another very good weekend”, stressed Verstappen after taking the sixth pole position of his career. It was the second in a row. Before that, Red Bull had already won the last three World Championship races and put Mercedes under unusually great pressure.
When it came to the front starting positions, Vettel was no longer there in the last qualifying section. The former champion suffered another major setback after the upward trend of the past few weeks, crowned by second place at the Grand Prix in Baku. “I struggled to get the lap to the point. It was very close, in the end I was missing the crucial piece,” said the 33-year-old at Sky: “I haven’t quite made my laps, so I can’t be surprised that it wasn’t enough. “
Mick Schumacher spoiled the day with a driving mistake. The 22-year-old young driver, who is still without World Championship points, only left his Russian teammate Nikita Mazepin behind and missed a place in front of the last row of the grid. “I made a precious mistake in the first corner,” said Schumacher: “I got in too quickly and lost the rear.” After that, he didn’t have a chance to drive a fast lap.
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