Spielberg, Austria: Valtteri Bottas upstaged both title protagonists on Saturday by claiming his second pole position for Mercedes in a tense qualifying session for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
The Finn clocked a best lap of one minute and 4.251 seconds to outpace championship leader Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari by four hundredths of a second.
Briton Lewis Hamilton, who trails Vettel by 14 points in the title race, was third fastest in the second Mercedes, but will start the race from eighth on the grid due to a five-place penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.
The session ended in some disarray when Frenchman Romain Grosjean stopped his Haas out on the track to bring out a series of yellow flags that prevented any final fast laps.
Finn Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, will start from third in the second Ferrari ahead of Australian Daniel Ricciardo and his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, backed by a crowd including 10,000 Dutch fans at the Red Bull Ring.
Grosjean was seventh ahead of Mexican Sergio Perez and his Force India teammate Esteban Ocon, with Spaniard Carlos Sainz 10th for Toro Rosso.
Vettel, meanwhile, has conceded that he ‘messed up’ at last month’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, damaging his relationship with Hamilton in the process.
The championship leading four-time world champion German, whose fit of ‘road rage’ saw him drive his Ferrari into the Briton’s Mercedes, said he hoped that time would repair the damage to what was previously a cordial and respectful rivalry.
“Actually, it’s not the same, because I messed up,” Vettel said. “So, I told him that I understand if he’s not happy and not cool about it, but I hope time will fix things.”
In an interview with The Times, he added: “We have our own lives, we’re grown up, we’re very different. His way, what he thinks are cool and what he prioritises in his life are very different to what I prioritise in my life.
“But that’s fine. We get along. We got along and I hope we still do.”
Vettel collided twice with the three-time champion while they were lapping behind a safety car in Baku, and was penalised with a 10-second stop-go penalty during the race. He escaped further punishment following an investigation.
Hamilton had described Vettel’s actions as ‘disgraceful’, but accepted his apology, though he made clear that he felt the International Motoring Federation (FIA) had sent out the wrong message following their investigation.
