[tharian]

Surprised that no thread has been started for the Austrian GP.

LeClerc takes his second pole with Hamilton in second and Max in third.
Hamilton was given a 3 place penalty for blocking Raikonnen on his hot lap which drops him to 5th.
Bottas now in third with Hamilton's penalty.
Vettel in tenth due to a technical issue.

I hope so too.

[nair]

Leclerc, Max and Norris in the top 4 of the grid. Wow! Just wow!

Ferrari on a different tyre strategy than Mercedes and Red Bull. Will be interesting for sure.

Feel for Vettel. The champion can't catch a break at the moment.

Also, Vettel is on 9th in the grid as Kevin Magnussen has 5 place grid penalty. Great showing by the Haas driver, they were nowhere during free practice and barely made it out of Q1 and Q2. That must have been a mega lap.

[avdhesh15]

Not surprised, since it's no longer Formula 1. But it's Formula Yawn

[mayankk]

It will be a mighty drive by the champ to come back on top by time the flag waves tomorrow. Mercedes have been somehow more on the dot in terms of strategy. However, I feel this race ought to be Bottas'.

Originally Posted by avdhesh15

Not surprised, since it's no longer Formula 1. But it's Formula Yawn

Well, you couldn't have asked for a more exciting starting grid, could ya?

[jpcoolguy]

Leclerc was on fire and he may have known this circuit very well, after he had won from pole position in both F2 and GP3 earlier. He has beaten Vettel comprehensively once again and hope he goes on to win the race tomorrow to break the Mercedes winning streak this year.

3 different cars lined up in the Top 3, even after Hamilton's penalty, and Norris make it 4 different cars in Top 4.

Leclerc will start on soft tyre as against the other rivals and hope this Ferrari's strategy don't backfire, in the blistering heat in the track.

Kvyat was unlucky to miss out in Q1 after encountering a stream of cars in the final corner.

And what's with Hamilton backing up the cars behind when he is the first car to come out and don't seem to get the required tow, happened twice during the qualifying - doesn't seem good for a 5 time world champion, when others just get on with it.

[speedmiester]

Finally a starting grid which can yield a different result and end the Mercedes stampede.
LeClerc was superb and put in a great qualifier to go on pole.

Ferrari really needs to support him more now he has proven time and again that he has the pace for winning races and championship.

Hamilton made a rookie mistake in letting Kimi pass by. Well he needed a challenge and got one this time around.

[sgiitk]

@tharian; I also hunted but never found the thread.

Two or three things. I was surprised in P2 to see the crashes of Verstappen, Bottas and Vettel (a near one). All top drivers. I never thought that the Salzburg circuit was that vicious.

Bottas had a particularly bad crash, looked like he did the front end in. The sight of both front wheels detached (expect for the holding ropes) will stay in my memory for a long time. It is amazing that the cars can be repaired/restored this quickly back to the old glory.

Yes, in qualification, Leclerc had the measure of the Mercedes fair and square. It was sad to see that Vettel could not come out in Q3. What exactly had happened. Looked like a Radiator issue. I hope he makes it in the race in good condition.

[sgiitk]

Just saw on the box 3 Place grid penalty for Hamilton. He was held guilty of baulking Raikonen. Actually it will be two places due to other penalties.

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by avdhesh15

Not surprised, since it's no longer Formula 1. But it's Formula Yawn

I bet this race will be anything but yawn! It's an old-school circuit, and what a contrast to the parking lot that they raced on last week.

Starting grid:

[sun_king]

I don't mind being called paranoid here, but I am saying this is an engineered grid in Austria. The only thing that probably didn't go as planned was Seb's no show in Q3.

The utterly dominant Hamilton goes clueless all of a sudden, Hamilton saying he deserved his penalty - now that's a first!

They must have noticed the increasing yawns and the decreasing viewer count, probably taking steps to make sure a non-Merc driver is on the top step of the podium.

On Friday there was a meeting to discuss the return to 2018 specs tires that was rejected because it was a 5-5 tie, some statements from the team bosses make the grid engineering scenario plausible. Mario Isola said "“The meeting was quite productive; there were new ideas, new proposals for maybe the end of the season..."

Sources: https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/2...tyres-rejected or https://racer.com/2019/06/28/f1-team...to-2018-tires/

[RM Motorsports]

2019 Austrian Grand Prix: Qualifying Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWU6tDaG-xg

[mayankk]

I think that race would have got many people back on board.
Either of the two races were not short on excitement today, but I'm just glad that the Ferrari was not on top in f1.

[ask_017]

Boring, whats that.

What a thriller. Kudos to max for giving such a treat to the fans. That move on brittas, wheels banged, hope fia just say hell yeah and move on.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by avdhesh15

Not surprised, since it's no longer Formula 1. But it's Formula Yawn

I hope you didn't miss that race. It was anything but a yawn.
Nailbitter!

Happy for Honda and their perseverance and at the same time sad for Ferrari and Leclerc.

[speedmiester]

What a race, what a race!!!

From the most boring GP of last week to the most exciting and nail biting F1 race for a long time.

Kudos to Max for a phenomenal recovery drive after bogged down to 7th from 2nd to a amazing victory.
Heartbreak for Charles yet again, he will win for sure this season

Anyway the pass by Max on Charles is under investigation

Good to see a great cliffhanger after a long time.

McLaren will be kicking themselves for shunning Honda.