Sebastian lined up first in the queue at the pit exit to wait for the light turn green. It was still raining significantly, and full-wets were the obvious choice for everyone. In the challenging conditions the holder of the top spot changed rapidly. First it was Sebastian, who went on top, but soon he was deprived of the top spot by Williams' Russell, which caught me by surprise. Then it was Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi, who went fastest. The honour of holding the top spot was only brief, as Leclerc set the fastest lap time. Charles and Sebastian were topping the time sheets, with Kimi third in his Alfa Romeo, as there were 12 minutes left in the clock. Wish this had been the real pecking order! The track kept improving, and the name of the fastest man kept changing. Hamilton snatched the top spot, but Charles robbed it again. Then Bottas banged the fastest lap time, but Red Bull's Verstappen gave his answer right away, making it on top of the timetable. Racing Point, who had showed excellent performance in Spielberg last weekend, were now struggling in the wet conditions. Renault instead, delivered in the pouring rain. Ocon jumped second in the standings at the end of the first session! The Frenchman split the Mercedes drivers, Hamilton being the faster one of the Silver Arrows. There were only two minutes remaining in the clock, as the standing water caught Giovinazzi by surprise, and the Italian went wide, bringing out the yellow flags. Hamilton was topping the time sheets, followed by the McLaren duo of Norris and Sainz. Verstappen stormed second in the last minute. With only 13 seconds remaining, the session was red-flagged due to Giovinazzi's off. Out of Q2 were both Alfa Romeo drivers (Kimi 16th, Giovinazzi 19th), Racing Point's Perez, Williams' Latifi and Haas' Grosjean. Definitely worth noting is the fact, that Williams pilot Russell made it into Q2 for the first time in his F1 career! This young Briton showed exceptional talent in virtual racing during the shutdown, and he clearly carries on with the momentum in live racing as well.
Once again Sebastian took his place as the first driver to go out, as Q2 was kicked off. It was still raining, and everyone headed out on the blue-walled full-wets. Expectedly, Verstappen shone in the extreme conditions, setting the fastest lap time on his first runs. Hamilton was second, half a second down on the flying Dutchman. Teammate Bottas was eight tenths down already. Ferrari struggled with their performance also in the wet. Sebastian was unable to make it higher than 7th, and Charles was in even more modest P11 after his first runs. With 5 minutes left in the clock, Hamilton put together a perfect lap, clocking the fastest lap time. Verstappen was second, followed by McLaren's Sainz, Mercedes' Bottas and Renault's Ocon. However, the rain intensified towards the closing stages of Q2. This meant even more challenging and slippery conditions and no improvements on the lap times. Sebastian went wide in Turn 1 on his last run, with teammate Charles exiting the pits and coming out right ahead of his teammate... The Q2 result told everything about Ferrari's performance. Or lack of performance to be honest. Sebastian was the last driver to make it among the top ten, whilst Charles was knocked out of the final session! Ferrari had brought some updates to their SF1000 for this weekend already, but it hadn't change the fact, that the Red Team are facing a deep crisis at the moment. Alongside Charles, also Russell, Racing Point's Stroll, AlphaTauri's Kvyat and Haas' Magnussen were eliminated from the final segment.
The weather conditions remained the same, as the shootout for pole began. Verstappen was the first man to clock the fastest lap time, which, however, he was briefly robbed of. Hamilton expectedly signed up for the fight for pole. With 6 minutes remaining, Bottas laid his hands on the top spot. Then it was Hamilton, who set the screens purple and banged the fastest lap time! A moment later it was Verstappen, who went fastest! And then again Hamilton! What a thrilling battle it turned out. In the last minute Verstappen was driving a competitive lap but span on the slippery track. However, there was only one king at Red Bull Ring today, and that was Lewis Hamilton. He improved his lap time on his last flyer so significantly, that in the end the reigning world champion turned out 1.2s faster than his closest rival Verstappen! I still don't know, where that lap came from! Sainz qualified third for McLaren, which was a top job from the Spaniard. Last week's pole-setter Bottas was left fourth this time. Ocon qualified fifth for Renault and Norris sixth in the sister McLaren. However, Norris will drop down three places due to a grid penalty, which was handed to him for ignoring the yellow flags in FP1. The fourth row was locked down by Red Bull's Albon and AlphaTauri's Gasly. Ricciardo was 9th in his Renault, and slow Sebastian couldn't make his way out from the back of the pack. To see him 2.3 seconds off the pole-setter made my heart bleed! Ferrari are so deep in trouble, which hurts me badly.
It is predicted to be a dry race tomorrow. Everyone has a free choice of tyres, as no dry tyres were used in today's qualifying. Verstappen will probably challenge Hamilton for the lead right at the very start. It could be an advantage for Bottas, if these two take it too aggressively. Once again I'm expecting a strong race from the orange team, in spite of Norris' penalty. Will there be as many DNFs as in last week's race? I definitely hope, that Red Bull will score points tomorrow, not to make it too easy for Mercedes to run away with all their points. To be honest, I don't know what to hope in terms of the Red Team. All I hope is that Sebastian will drive a flawless race and extract maximum out of his SF1000. Other than that, the performance of the car is out of his hands.
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