Red Bull driver Max Verstappen says his car was “immediately gone” as he suffered a costly accident in Formula 1 qualifying ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix.

In the dying seconds of the lap, Verstappen put everything on the line to keep up with the intrinsically quicker Mercedes cars and looked on course to contend for the front row behind poleman George Russell. However, he lost the rear of his Red Bull RB22 in Turn 9, spinning into the barriers.

Verstappen said it was the first time over the Spielberg weekend that he had faced an issue in Turn 9, although his car was getting loose in Turn 6 as well earlier in the lap.

“That lap, already in Turn 6 I had a very weird snap on entry, because that’s basically the second highest speed [corner]. And then when I went into Turn 9, as soon as I turned the wheel I was gone,” he explained.

“It felt like a bit of a lack of some downforce or oversteer. I didn’t even change anything on the car. There is margin in places, so you try to push a little bit more, but at the same time also not a stupid amount more. But as soon as I turned the wheel it just completely went away.”

Verstappen felt the crash cost him two positions on the starting grid, but given Red Bull’s well documented start issues he was expecting to drop back on Sunday anyway.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

“I think realistically we could have been P3, it’s a little bit better than P5,” the Dutchman told Sky. “But realistically, I think even if we would have been P3, coming off the line is hard for us, so you probably drop back to P5, but that’s what it is at the moment.”

Red Bull had rolled out a huge upgrade package at its parent company’s home circuit in Austria, which appears to have delivered a meaningful step for the team. But, Verstappen is reserving judgement until the team can get a bigger sample size at a circuit like Silverstone next week.

“I think we have to wait,” he said. “This track is a very short lap, right? Actually, a lot of people were close. I think there’s still a few things that we want to understand from the package that worked well, maybe some bits not so well, and then we’ll just work from there.”

Team-mate Isack Hadjar qualified eighth, a tenth and a half behind Verstappen and half a second behind polesitter Russell, after struggling with front locking into Turns 1 and 3.

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George Russell will not be investigated by the FIA race stewards for setting his Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix pole lap under yellow flags brought out by Max Verstappen‘s crash, as the Mercedes driver was deemed to have lifted off enough in Turn 9.

Red Bull’s Verstappen crashed in the final moments of qualifying as he made a last-ditch attempt to battle the Mercedes drivers for pole, being just over half a tenth down after the first two sectors.

But as Verstappen suffered a violent snap of oversteer in the fast Turn 9 right-hander, the four-time world champion ended up spinning into the barriers to end his pole bid, bringing out a local yellow flag.

That yellow threatened to derail Russell’s pole lap, with the Mercedes driver passing a single yellow on the light panel before entering Turn 9. Russell then continued on towards the finish to set the fastest lap time, informing his engineer – and race control – that he had heeded the yellow flag.

“I lifted at the entry into that corner, lost a lot of time,” Russell said on the team radio.

Russell’s potential yellow flag infringement was picked up by race control, but the race stewards swiftly decided not to investigate the incident.

Max Verstappen crashed out on his final lap.

Photo by: Clive Rose / Formula 1 via Getty Images

After comparing Russell’s data with his previous best, the stewards appeared to be satisfied that Russell had reduced speed in the relevant marshal sectors. That was enough for Russell to escape sanction, because the sector was just under a single yellow rather than a double waved yellow flag.

Article B1.8.4 of the 2026 sporting regulations said: “Any driver passing through a waved yellow flag marshalling sector must reduce their speed and be prepared to change direction. In order for the stewards to be satisfied that any such driver has complied with these requirements they are expected to have braked earlier and/or discernibly reduced speed in the relevant marshalling sector.”

If there had been a double waved yellow flag, Russell would not have been allowed to set an improved lap time and would have had his lap time deleted anyway.

“It’s a single yellow and a 100-metre lift-off, George loses a tenth and a half. It’s completely on,” Mercedes chief Toto Wolff told Sky. “It was an incredible lap, and you see it on the data. It’s a massive lift compared to all the laps before, so well done him. I’m really happy for him, how he managed that.”

Russell’s action sowed confusion because team-mate Kimi Antonelli did abort his lap and ducked back into the pits. But according to Wolff, the Italian mistook the single yellow for a double, and therefore needlessly abandoned his flyer. “I think he was under the impression it was a double yellow,” Wolff explained.

Russell’s 1m06.113s lap defeated the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton by over two tenths, taking his second consecutive pole of 2026 as he aims to claw back his 50-point championship deficit to leader Antonelli.

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George Russell has taken pole position for the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix after avoiding an investigation for setting his lap under yellow flag conditions following Max Verstappen’s crash.

The Red Bull driver spun into the barrier at the penultimate corner, benefitting those who’d already set their lap or Russell, who was just behind Verstappen as it happened.

Russell confirmed “I lifted at the entry into that corner” and that he “lost a lot of time” under single-waved yellow flags and not double, so he kept his fourth pole of the season.

The Mercedes driver did so with a 1m06.113s, meaning he will share the front row with Charles Leclerc, who set his 1m06.349s before Verstappen’s crash.

The Ferrari driver pipped team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.059s and the seven-time world champion is set to share the second row with Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli.

Antonelli lost out the most by Verstappen’s crash as he was on provisional pole with a 1m06.414s, but the championship leader aborted his final lap to take fourth. 

Verstappen had produced a brilliant opening tour with a 1m06.475s, which put him third behind the Mercedes pair, but his crash dropped him to fifth ahead of sixth-placed Lando Norris.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing crash

Photo by: Clive Rose / Formula 1 via Getty Images

The reigning world champion qualified 0.009s ahead of McLaren stablemate Oscar Piastri in seventh, with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Racing Bulls pair Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completing the top 10.

Verstappen had already survived a scare in Q2, having not left his garage for a second push lap based on Red Bull projections that his 1m07.183s was good enough to progress.

That was also done to save an extra set of fresh softs, but the four-time world champion still gradually slipped from seventh to 10th, Hadjar and the Racing Bulls pair jumping ahead of him.

As he dropped into 10th, Verstappen could do nothing but hope for survival and Pierre Gasly was the one to watch, being up in the middle sector, but he ended up 0.040s shy to take 11th.

That put him ahead of 12th-placed Gabriel Bortoleto, who was 0.110s off the cut, with Oliver Bearman subsequently qualifying 13th and Nico Hulkenberg in 14th.

The under-pressure Esteban Ocon avoided a fourth, consecutive Q1 exit to take 15th, while Franco Colapinto qualified 16th to round out a Q2 session topped by Antonelli.

Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Michael Potts / LAT Images via Getty Images

Carlos Sainz suffered from a snap of oversteer at the final corner to only take 17th, one spot ahead of team-mate Alex Albon in the first Williams double Q1 elimination since China.

Debutant outfit Cadillac once again showed signs of progress as both cars qualified a second ahead of Aston Martin, with Sergio Perez in 19th and Valtteri Bottas taking 20th.

That resulted in Aston occupying the back row for the third, consecutive qualifying session, as Fernando Alonso claimed 21st ahead of Lance Stroll, who was three seconds off Antonelli’s Q1 benchmark.

F1 Austrian GP – Qualifying results

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Former Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone has backed moves by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali for the series to shift to V8 engines by 2030 or 2031.

As previously stated by Ben Sulayem, F1’s governing body the FIA is very keen to switch to bigger, louder and cheaper engines for the series’ next rules cycle, which is set to arrive in 2031 but could be brought forward if agreed upon by F1’s manufacturers.

The advent of sustainable fuels, combined with a shift of the automotive industry’s stance on EVs, has made a return to high-cylinder, high-revving engines a more appealing proposition, with it hoped that V8 engines with a simpler hybrid component would also bring costs down.

Speaking to select media at the Austrian Grand Prix, including Autosport, former F1 supremo Ecclestone said returning to bigger engines is “the right thing to do”.

“There’s one of the two things which I hope [Ben Sulayem] is going to do in the future,” said Ecclestone. “A three-litre engine. I don’t care if it’s a V8 or a V10 or a V12. I think probably all of you would be happy with that. I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Ecclestone, who left the championship a decade ago as Liberty Media acquired the series, said four-time world champion Max Verstappen was right to be a vocal critic of the current, extremely complex power unit regulations, which are being gradually adjusted over the next two seasons amid driver pushback.

Max Verstappen has been a vocal critic of the F1 2026 power unit regulations.

Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images

Verstappen frequently indicated his F1 future would depend on whether or not the current crop of cars will become more exciting and pure to drive, and move away from the overbearing emphasis on energy management. Following smaller tweaks in May, F1 will increase the ratio between combustion power and electric energy to 58/42 for next year.

When asked by Autosport if F1 should be afraid of losing Verstappen, Ecclestone replied: “I mean, he was right criticising. I think the regulations weren’t necessary to do what has been done. And that’s what Max was complaining about.”

Now, Ecclestone believes there will be enough support from F1’s manufacturers to push the changes through.

“[Ben Sulayem] would like it if all the teams put their hands up and said it’s fantastic, which I’m sure they would do if they weren’t controlled by a manufacturer,” Ecclestone said. “And I think the manufacturers will come on board, because it’s obvious.”

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