Hamilton battles wet conditions to grab Styrian Grand Prix pole

Six-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton lived up to his ‘rain master’ reputation to put his Mercedes on pole position for the first Styrian Grand Prix yesterday at Spielberg, Austria.

In a session that started 46 minutes late at the Red Bull Ring after a washed-out final practice, the Briton powered through the spray to go top with a time 1.216 seconds quicker than Max Verstappen for the home team. The pole was a record-extending 89th of Hamilton’s F1 career.

McLaren’s Spaniard Carlos Sainz qualified third, a career best, with Hamilton’s Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas fourth fastest. “What a tricky day,” said the Briton after his stunning performance.

“The weather was incredibly difficult out there for all of us. A lot of the time you couldn’t even see where you were going. I had a big aquaplane at one point – I had my heart in my mouth – but I was able to improve and put in a nice, clean lap. I love these days.”

The battle was between Hamilton and Verstappen, with the Dutch – himself pretty handy in the wet – going fastest two minutes from the end but then losing control and sliding wide.

The champion then put in an extraordinary final effort of one minute 19.273 seconds. “You can’t see a thing, it is hard to see the braking zones but that is the same for everyone. I think in the dry we can have a good shot at it,” said Verstappen, 22, a two-times winner. Esteban Ocon (Renault), Alex Albon (Red Bull), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Daniel Ricciardo (Renault), McLaren’s Lando Norris and four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel rounded off the top 10.