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Lewis Hamilton says this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix has been more challenging for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team than last weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix, with the reigning World Champion only fourth on the grid for Sunday’s race.

Hamilton started on the front row seven days ago at the Red Bull Ring, but Qualifying this time around saw him end behind title rival Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing, as well as McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris and the second Red Bull of Sergio Pérez.

The Briton hopes to move forward on race day on Sunday, but he knows Mercedes need to improve if they are to take the championship fight to Verstappen and Red Bull this season.

“This weekend is more of a challenge than it was already last week and we continue to lack pace,” revealed Hamilton.  “We tried everything to get more out of the car but the underlying pace just isn’t good enough at the moment, so we’ve got to really find performance in the following races.

“I don’t know if McLaren brought an upgrade but they were mega quick today so great job from Lando. We’ve just got to try and improve, we’ve still got a long way to go.

Andreas Seidl was delighted to see Lando Norris secure his maiden front row grid slot on Saturday afternoon at the Red Bull Ring, with the Briton giving the McLaren F1 Team their first top two starting place for nine years.

Norris was only 0.048 seconds away from taking a shock pole position, but the young Briton’s lap fell just short of the time set by Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, who will start the Austrian Grand Prix from the very front of the grid.

Seidl, the Team Principal of the Woking-based team, was pleased with the way Norris performed during the Qualifying hour, with the Briton improving on every run he completed.

“It’s been nine years since McLaren has qualified on the front row, so P2 today for Lando is a great result for the entire team and our colleagues at Mercedes HPP,” said Seidl.  

“A reward for the hard work that everyone has been putting in over the last month to keep improving the car and make this possible today. Lando’s been flying, continuously improving with every single lap all through the qualifying sessions.”

Lando Norris was the surprise of Qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday, with the Briton ending just 0.048 seconds away from pole position but with his first front row start in Formula 1.

The McLaren F1 Team racer will join Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen on the first row of the grid on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring, with his final flying lap getting him extremely close to a maiden pole position.

Norris felt he got as much out of the MCL35M as he could in Qualifying, with the Briton managing to beat the second Red Bull of Sergio Pérez, as well as the two Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

“Very happy! My best result in qualifying in Formula 1, so a big achievement for us as a team but also for myself,” said Norris.  “It was one of the best laps I’ve done.

“To only be half a tenth off pole is a great achievement for everyone. It makes you miss it from your early career! I don’t think we could’ve done a lot more, so P2 is awesome for us and a great position to start from tomorrow.

Chip Ganassi Racing‘s Scott Dixon went fastest in the brief 30-minute post-qualifying practice session ahead of the Honda Indy 200. Dixon, who qualified fifth for tomorrow’s race, showed that he’s got the pace to compete tomorrow with a lap time of 1:08.025 on the red-walled alternate tyre.

Colton Herta was the model of consistency, matching his second place qualifying effort with a second place finish in final practice. Across all three sessions today, Herta has not finished outside of the top three in any of them, showing good pace in the increasing temperatures.

Romain Grosjean recovered from a less than ideal qualifying to put together a strong lap and finish third, the highest up the scoring sheets he’s been all weekend. Grosjean was raced hard by fellow ex-Formula 1 driver Marcus Ericsson late in the session and had choice words for the Swede over the radio after he pushed him off track in turn five, but the team said they will show him in the race tomorrow. Ericsson finished the session in eighth place.

Another ex-F1 driver found themselves fourth fastest, Carlin‘s Max Chilton. Chilton shot to the top of the charts late in the session, and finished the day with a top result for the small, single-car operation.

James Hinchcliffe added to his top-ten qualifying effort with a fifth place finish in final practice, the last of the Andretti Autosport cars in the top ten. Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay finished the session in eighteenth and thirteenth respectively.

Team Penske‘s Josef Newgarden made it a three-peat of pole positions this season, out-dueling Colton Herta in Q3 to take the pole for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio by just 0.0031 sec. Newgarden was able to get his final lap in after Herta had finished, and gets the best track position at a track where that is so critical.

The first group of Q1 started the session off with a bang, as plenty of controversy surrounded the finish of the session. Meyer Shank Racing‘s Jack Harvey, who was second fastest in the session to that point, spun at turn nine and stopped at the edge of the track just behind the timing and scoring line for qualifiyng. For a period of time no local caution was displayed as the last two cars of Alexander Rossi and Simon Pagenaud passed by.

Rossi slowed significantly on what would have been his fastest lap, and was set to miss out on Q2. Pagenaud did not slow down nearly as much in the local yellow zone and was able to improve into the top six of the group. Rob Edwards, Rossi’s strategist, said that they should go through and Pagenaud and Harvey should be penalized for not slowing down under the caution and causing the caution respectively. After much deliberation by the stewards, all three drivers were penalized and had their best lap times invalidated, with Rossi’s best being enough to see him through to Q2 while Pagenaud and Harvey were eliminated.

Will Power had struggles in this session as he needed an ECU replacement, but his crew got him on track with four minutes left which was enough for him to advance. The returning Felix Rosenqvist was also eliminated in this group after putting down what he thought was one of his best laps ever at Mid-Ohio.

Rosenqvist’s Arrow McLaren SP teammate Patricio O’Ward faced the same struggles, as he too was eliminated in Q1 as a part of the second group. O’Ward struggled with the higher track temperatures after going fastest in the morning practice session and will start twentieth. Also eliminated were Romain Grosjean, making his first exit in Q1 at a road course in IndyCar, and fellow rookie Scott McLaughlin who was knocked out at the very end of the session. IndyCar debutant Ryan Norman was also eliminated in this session. He will start last for Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing.

Matt Brabham finally broke through for his first win of the 2021 Stadium Super Trucks season, but public attention focused on Bill Hynes and Bo LeMastus. As Brabham celebrated winning Race #1 of the Honda Indy 200 weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Hynes and LeMastus traded punches and even threw a helmet and steering wheel in response to LeMastus’ driving.

LeMastus started on the pole ahead of Jett Noland, while Hynes was third. Brabham, as the Fastest Qualifier, was at the rear.

As Brabham and Robby Gordon teamed up in the draft, LeMastus led Jett Noland through the opening corners before Jerett Brooks took the lead in turn four. LeMastus slipped down to fourth after Aaron Bambach and Robert Stout passed him prior to the first lap’s conclusion. Noland, Gordon, and Brabham also made overtakes on lap two.

By lap three, Gordon and Brabham joined Stout and Noland in the fight for third. As the next lap began, the Gordon/Brabham tandem applied pressure on Stout; Gordon tried a pass in the Keyhole but ran wide before clearing Stout after the jump. Brabham made his own move as Noland slid into the gravel. At the competition caution, Brooks led Bambach, Gordon, and Brabham.

Coming to the restart, LeMastus lined up aside Brabham before filing in front of Max Gordon. Bambach subsequently took the lead from Brooks with Robby Gordon in tow, but Brooks received drafting help from Gordon to regain the position on lap six. Brabham and Stout passed Bambach as the next lap started.

For the first time since 1956, NASCAR Cup Series cars are on track at Road America. Saturday’s activities included the lone practice session for the series ahead of Sunday’s qualifying and race. After fifty minutes, Kurt Busch was the fastest of forty drivers ahead of younger brother Kyle Busch, though the latter will have to go to a backup car and start at the rear in the race after a crash.

The older Busch, who has not won on a road course since Sonoma 2011, was the only driver to set a fastest lap time below 134 seconds at 133.849 with a speed of 108.875 mph. Kyle followed at 134.116 seconds, but went off course and spun while leading the session, resulting in damage to the rear.

NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Austin Cindric, who won the pole for his series’ race earlier in the day and the 2020 Road America event, placed third at 134.280; he led four laps in his most recent Cup start at fellow road course COTA in May. Another Xfinity driver and road course ace joined him in the top ten as A.J. Allmendinger, who won the 2013 Xfinity event, placed seventh.

Kyle Busch was not the only driver with problems during practice as Ryan Preece spun in turn eleven on his first lap and damaged the front, also forcing him to switch to a backup. Road ringer Kyle Tilley went into the gravel trap and finished thirty-fifth.

Ryan Eversley was thirty-eighth in his first official Cup action. Sunday’s race will mark the sports car regular’s maiden Cup start.

David Schumacher converted reverse grid pole position into his first FIA Formula 3 victory in Austria as a chaotic race far behind him saw the championship pendulum swing multiple times.

Crucially, Schumacher escaped the DRS from the huge pack behind him after an early safety car following contact between Logan Sargeant and Tijmen van der Helm meaning he could manage the race with a comfortable gap to the rest.

It’s a much needed win for him having struggled with race pace so far this season, although he could have been caught by the rapid Jak Crawford had the American not suffered mechanical issues mid-way through the race.

Eventually finishing second was Frederik Vesti who inherited the place when Victor Martins’ MP Motorsport car conked out on the penultimate lap while chasing Schumacher.

Compounding Martins’ misery, Dennis Hauger drove another brilliant race to avoid the chaos and make the right moves, at the right time to finish third and take his championship points tally to 97, extending the gap further to Jack Doohan who could only manage seventh.

Christian Horner was pleased with the ‘great’ team performance by Red Bull Racing in Qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday, with Max Verstappen taking a third consecutive pole position and Sergio Pérez ending up third.

Horner, the Team Principal at Red Bull, revealed Verstappen was not happy with his performance during Q3, and the desire to improve saw him unknowingly give a tow to Lando Norris that almost saw the McLaren F1 Team driver beat him to top spot.

Just 0.048 seconds separated Verstappen from Norris, but ultimately the Dutchman was able to take top spot to give Red Bull three consecutive pole positions for the first time in eight years.

“Today was a great Team performance,” said Horner.  “It’s our first triple pole since 2013 and Max’s first, plus it’s great to have Checo up there in P3 giving us a great chance with both cars tomorrow.

“Max is always looking for that little bit extra and he was frustrated as he felt there was more in the car in Q3.

Max Verstappen was pleased to take pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday, but the Red Bull Racing driver was not happy with the laps he completed in Q3 that left him perilously close to being beaten by Lando Norris when it mattered.

Verstappen topped both the first and second segments of Qualifying at the Red Bull Ring with relative ease, but when it came to the top ten shootout in Q3, he was only 0.048 seconds ahead of the McLaren F1 Team driver when the chequered flag fell.

The popular Dutchman says he will analyse what changed in Q3 that prevented him from streaking to an easier pole position than what actually materialised, but all-in-all, he was happy with his day.

“Q1 and Q2 were very good and comfortable but I was not entirely happy in Q3 as my laps weren’t amazing,” said Verstappen.  “I’m of course happy to be on pole, especially at the Red Bull Ring again, and having three poles in a row is great for the Team.

“But I cannot be entirely happy as I always want to be perfect and I always want to analyse what went well and what went wrong. Maybe that is how I grew up but I also believe that is how you keep improving.”

Pato O’Ward led the final practice session ahead of Qualifying for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Saturday, with the Mexican getting the better of Friday’s pacesetter Josef Newgarden.

O’Ward, one of only two drivers to have won twice during the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series season, set a best lap of 1:06.0911 to lead the way for the Chevrolet-powered Arrow McLaren SP team, although he was only 0.0082 seconds ahead of Team Penske’s Newgarden.

Colton Herta was third for Andretti Autosport, just 0.0928 seconds off the pace as the top twenty-one cars of the twenty-six cars racing this weekend were within a second of O’Ward’s best time.

Fourth went the way of Graham Rahal of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team, 0.2437 seconds off O’Ward’s best, while fifth was Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport, just ahead of Team Penske duo Will Power and Scott McLaughlin, the latter the first of the rookies in the field.

Jack Harvey, who will be looking to get his season back on track after a torrid run of bad luck and bad results since the Indianapolis 500 in May, was eighth fastest, while Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon was only ninth, just ahead of Arrow McLaren’s returning driver Felix Rosenqvist.

Max Verstappen took pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon, with the Dutchman confirmed the kind of pace he had shown all weekend long during the free practice sessions.

The Red Bull Racing driver will be joined on the front row by the impressive Lando Norris, with the McLaren F1 Team racer securing his best Qualifying position of his career.

Q1 – Räikkönen, Ocon Exit

The opening session at the Red Bull Ring saw a thrilling conclusion, with Kimi Räikkönen the first of those to be eliminated, the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN driver finishing just over three-tenths back on team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi, who comfortably made it through in the second C41-Ferrari.

Also eliminated, and well adrift of his team-mate was Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon in seventeenth, with the Red Bull Ring again proving a difficult circuit to get right for the Frenchman.  Team-mate Fernando Alonso was an encouraging third fastest!

Nicholas Latifi was unable to break into Q2 for Williams Racing, with the Canadian continuing his run of being out-qualified by team-mate George Russell, who was able to make it into Q2 for an eighth consecutive race weekend.

Max Verstappen will go into Saturday afternoon’s Qualifying session for the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring as clear favourite for pole position after the Dutchman was more than half a second ahead of the field in final practice.

The Red Bull Racing driver stayed in the garage for the early part of the session as other drivers ran laps on Pirelli’s prototype tyre, but when he joined the track, he was immediately quick.  His best lap of 1:04.591 was 0.538 seconds clear of second placed Valtteri Bottas.

After ending Friday afternoon’s session first and second, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team were forced to settle for second and third, with Bottas over a tenth of a second ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. 

Hamilton did set a time of 1:04.994 to move into second, but it was immediately deleted as he exceeded track limits at the exit of the final turn.  However, it would have still seen the reigning World Champion end over four-tenths of a second away from Verstappen’s best.

Behind the leading three came the ever-impressive Pierre Gasly, with the Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver ending just 0.003 seconds behind Hamilton.  His team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was unable to break into the top ten, with the Japanese racer ending twelfth after surviving a wild moment exiting the penultimate turn that saw him spin and almost hit the barriers.

Lewis Hamilton will remain with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team until at least the end of the 2023 Formula 1 season after agreeing a new contract with the German outfit.

The seven-time World Champion has put pen-to-paper on a new deal that will see him race for Mercedes for eleven consecutive seasons, having joined the team ahead of the 2013 season.

Since joining the team, Hamilton has amassed six of his World Championship triumphs, as well as seventy-seven victories and seventy-four pole positions.  He is bidding this year to win an eighth title, which would break the record he currently shares with Michael Schumacher.

And Hamilton will now continue with Mercedes into the new era of Formula 1, which begins with a major aerodynamic overhaul in 2022.

“It is hard to believe it’s been nearly nine years working with this incredible team and I’m excited we’re going to continue our partnership for two more years,” said Hamilton.  “We’ve accomplished so much together but we still have a lot to achieve, both on and off the track.

Dennis Hauger delivered one of FIA Formula 3’s greatest drive as he charged through to victory from 12th on the grid , extending his championship lead considerably.

The PREMA driver started from the sixth row by virtue of securing pole position yesterday but he was able to make decisive moves when others couldn’t to get through to third behind Matteo Nannini and Clément Novalak.

The leading duo went wheel-to-wheel into turn four on lap 21 but they both ended up in the gravel with Novalak not making it out, opening the door for Hauger to cruise through on his way to the top step of the podium, with fastest lap to boot.

His teammate Olli Caldwell joined him in the rostrum by holding off Logan Sargeant for second although the American struggled with tyre wear in the latter stages and fell back on the final couple of tours.

The second train of cars in a race which saw endless overtaking was eventually led home by Victor Martins who recovered from a brief gravel visit himself to beat Jak Crawford who looked accomplished fighting against the best of Formula 3.