VALTTERI BOTTAS ROARED to pole position ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in today’s tense and closely-contested qualifying for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
The softly-spoken Finn clocked a track record fastest lap in 1min 03.130sec to outstrip Hamilton by 0.019 seconds as Mercedes reeled off their third front-row lockout of the season.
Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari claimed third with a late fast lap in the final minute to push his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen down to fourth.
Max Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull ahead of Romain Grosjean of Haas, Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull and Kevin Magnussen in the second Ferrari-powered Haas.
Carlos Sainz was ninth ahead of his Renault team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
