Verstappen: With track limits it was about surviving

At the sharp end of Qualifying for the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix, with lap times approaching one minute, it was ultra-close between Verstappen and the Ferrari duo, but the Dutch ace claimed his fourth top spot in a row, his 26th F1 pole position and setting himself on course for another maximum points haul on Sunday.

Speaking after the Qualifying session at Red Bull Ring, the place of Dietrich Mateshitz's dream turned into reality, and in front of a smoking Orange crowd in the Spielberg hillside, Verstappen highlighted the track limits issue that plagued many drivers and summed up his session: "It's very difficult because of the track limits.

"We don't do it on purpose but with these speeds and the high-speed corners, it's so hard to judge the white line. We could see that a lot of people get out. It was about surviving, even Q3 you just want the banker lap, it takes out the joy a little bit. But it was still a very good lap. So very happy to be on pole," declared Max.

Regarding the track limits that caught him out a couple of times, and more so teammate Perez who will line up 15th for the race on Sunday, Verstappen added: "It's always very tricky around here and the cars are big and heavy. Judging it on a line this wide (very small), with these speeds are very high. We know this is quite a different weekend with the whole format. Saturday will be a very different day but at least the car is quick, which is the most important thing."

Later, in the Red Bull team report the Dutch ace added: “It’s great to be on pole here at the Red Bull Ring, it feels good. It wasn’t a straightforward qualifying because of all the track limits. It’s very hard to judge the white line here, a lot of us got caught out so at least it wasn’t just us.

"Today was all about surviving, we just needed to bank the laps as we weren’t able to push hard. It’s such a short lap here so we are all pretty close together. We’ve got a long weekend ahead so a lot can happen, tomorrow will be a completely different story. Today, the car was quick and we were ahead, that’s the most important thing.”

While Max in the #1 car was able to extract the most out of the superb RB19, in #11, Perez again tripped up when it mattered, best explained by himself: "I think we most definitely had the pace today and you could see that as qualifying progressed. I’m disappointed, especially with my final lap.

"It is always fine margins at this circuit and the first two laps that I had deleted for track limits the rules were clear and I accept those decisions from the stewards. On my final run in Q2 I tried to push as best as I could within those limits and was on a good lap but was in traffic and that was trickier to keep clean.

"It is what it is, we look forward to Saturday, it is a new opportunity. The most positive thing is that we have the pace and then we will try and recover on Sunday afternoon for the race. I am feeling a little better but still not one hundred percent, my whole focus is on being prepared for tomorrow’s Sprint and then racing well on Sunday," added Perez.

Team boss Christian Horner looked back on a bittersweet afternoon for RBR: "It was a difficult session today, it’s very hard to see the white lines as we can see from the number of infringements, but a superb job from Max to get that pole despite needing to be a little more conservative due to track limits.

For Checo it was more frustrating, he had the pace and was putting in similar lap times to Max but unfortunately he had three deleted lap times. He’ll be incredibly frustrated, but he’s got the full support of the Team and we all know what he’s capable of, he’ll turn the page and race hard for the rest of the weekend.

This track is one you can overtake on, you can see the Ferraris had great pace and Charles was just half a tenth off at the end, so the weekend offers some tough but exciting racing," predicted Horner, whose team is rampaging to both titles this year.

Last year, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc (who starts from P2 on Sunday) won the race to spoil Red Bull's hometown party, again the Reds appear to be the big threat as the Blues go all out to make right the wrong of last year, with Verstappen spearheading the cause.