Lewis Hamilton has cast doubt on prospects for a Mercedes victory at the Styrian Grand Prix but promised to "give it everything" to challenge Max Verstappen.
Pole position went to Verstappen on Saturday as the Red Bull team showed impressive pace at their home circuit in Spielberg, Austria.
Championship leader Verstappen, who heads Hamilton by 12 points after the opening seven races of the season, expressed satisfaction as a job well done.
Hamilton reacted to being only third quickest, behind team-mate Valtteri Bottas, by saying Mercedes simply do not have the speed that Red Bull are showing at present.
A three-place grid penalty for a pit-lane spin on Friday means Bottas will drop to fifth, with Hamilton bumped up a spot, spared having to start on the second row.
Hamilton said: "Well done to Max. I've been giving it absolutely everything. It just wasn't the greatest of sessions, but nonetheless I'm still on the front row.
"I did everything I could and we go into the race on Sunday for a fight.
"Generally they [Red Bull] had a quarter of a second on us all weekend. I don't think we have the raw pace to overtake them, that's for sure."
But Hamilton added: "We'll be giving it everything. Maybe Sunday we'll be surprised, maybe it rains, who knows."
Verstappen has won two of the last three races to power ahead at the top of the drivers' standings, giving him early season hope of a first world title.
"It's been a very good weekend," said Verstappen. "Again in qualifying the car was really good to drive. I'm super happy to be on pole here at home. It's nice to see a Red Bull car first here.
"The lap, when you look at the track you think there are not many corners, but the corners you have are quite difficult. It's a small track but it's hard to get a good lap out of it. The first lap in Q3 was not too bad. It's never perfect, but it was good enough."
Looking ahead to race day, Verstappen said: "It's never easy – I wish sometimes it was easy. I'm sure again it will be very tight. Hopefully again it will be as interesting as it was in France."
Verstappen won after an undercut as he delivered victory last weekend at the French Grand Prix. Hamilton took second place there, with Sergio Perez third and Bottas fourth.
Bottas said his grid penalty this weekend was "a shame", adding: "It's a new day on Sunday with a race ahead and anything is possible."
Lando Norris (McLaren) and Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Perez will form the second row, with the relegated Bottas alongside Pierre Gasly on row three.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc struggled for pace with Ferrari in qualifying, and Sainz was bumped out of the top 10 close to the end of Q2, qualifying only 12th quickest.
Leclerc clambered to seventh on the grid, with Gasly's AlphaTauri team-mate Yuki Tsunoda eighth and Fernando Alonso ninth.
Sainz still qualified ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel – 13th and 14th respectively – with George Russell just a sliver away from making it through to Q3. Williams driver Russell was 11th, a mere 0.008 seconds behind Lance Stroll's Aston Martin.
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:03.841
2. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) +0.194secs (has three-place grid penalty)
3. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.226s
4. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.279s
5. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) +0.327s
6. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) +0.395s
7. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.631s
8. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) +0.673s
9. Fernando Alonso (Alpine) +0.733s
10. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.867s
Horner hints Perez 'knows the situation' amid Red Bull exit talks
Christian Horner hinted that Sergio Perez's Red Bull future is up to the driver himself amid rumours he will lose his seat after this weekend's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Perez has been under pressure for most of this season after scoring just 152 of Red Bull's 581 points and rarely getting near team-mate Max Verstappen, despite starting strong.
He finished on the podium in four of the first five races of the campaign, netting him a two-year contract extension in June.
However, the Mexican endured another tough weekend in Qatar, failing to finish the race, which meant that Red Bull are now officially out of the hunt for the constructor's title.
Perez has now retired from 37 races, four of which have been this year. Only in 2012 (six) has he had more in one year in the competition (also four in 2014).
Despite having a drive on paper for the 2025 season, Horner conceded to Sky Sports F1 that his lack of results of late have cost the team.
"Checo has been a wonderful driver for us. Certainly, in 2021, 2022, 2023, he contributed to Max's championship in 2021 and the constructors' in 2022 and 2023," Horner said.
"Most of all, he's a great guy. He's not enjoying the situation he's in at the moment. He knows the pressure of this business.
"We are going to give him all the support we can all the way to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi. What he decides to do, that will be his decision at the end of the day.
"He's old enough and wise enough to come to his own conclusions. There's still a race to go."
RB drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson are the two leading candidates to replace Perez at Red Bull for 2025.
Tsunoda will drive the main Red Bull car for the first time in his career at the post-season Abu Dhabi Test next Tuesday.
The Japanese driver has also got the better of Lawson in their five events as team-mates at RB, following Daniel Ricciardo's departure in September.
FIA stands by Lando Norris penalty at Qatar GP
The FIA is standing by its decision to penalise McLaren driver Lando Norris at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Norris was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for failing to lift the throttle while double yellow flags were being waved.
The 25-year-old dropped from second to last among the remaining drivers, with the decision having a big impact in the Constructors' Championship battle.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described the penalty as "brutal" in an interview with Sky Sports and accused officials of lacking consistency.
Lando Norris collected what could prove to be a crucial bonus point in his and McLaren's quest for constructors' glory
Join @LandoNorris as he scoops the DHL Fastest Lap in Qatar! Full 2024 leaderboard https://t.co/sOAsD9IxzG#F1 #MomentsThatDeliver @DHL_Motorsports pic.twitter.com/k5ryP7jgCk
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 2, 2024
However, in a statement released on Monday, F1's governing body explained why the decision was the correct one.
"The penalty was in accordance with the penalty guidelines circulated to the teams on 19 February 2024," part of the statement read.
"A double yellow flag infringement is considered a serious compromise of safety, which is why such offences carry such a severe penalty."
The FIA went on to state that the specific scenario would be reviewed and a new process may be established down the line.
McLaren's lead over Ferrari has been cut to 21 points heading into the final round of the season in Abu Dhabi next weekend.
Verstappen has "lost all respect" for Russell after Qatar GP penalty
Max Verstappen has "lost all respect" for George Russell after the Mercedes driver's role in demoting the four-time world champion from pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Russell was promoted to pole, but it was Verstappen who crossed the finish line first, joined by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and McLaren's Oscar Piastri on the podium.
Verstappen was slapped with a rare one-place grid penalty for driving unnecessarily slowly and impeding Russell in qualifying, although the stewards, after a hearing attended by both drivers, said there were mitigating circumstances as neither driver was on a flying lap.
"I was quite surprised, when sitting there in the stewards' room, what was all going on," Verstappen told Sky Sports after winning Sunday's race.
"It was honestly very disappointing, because I think all of us here, we respect each other a lot.
"I've been in that meeting room many times in my life and my career with people that I've raced. And I've never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard. For me, I lost all respect.
"I couldn't believe that I got [the penalty]. But in a way, I was also not surprised anymore in the world that I live in.
"I'm not happy with it, but at one point or another you have to just turn the page.
"It wasn't very enjoyable to see that happen because I think that's the first time that in a slow lap someone has been penalised.
"Actually, I just tried to be nice, so maybe I shouldn't be nice. I didn't want to screw anyone over to prepare their lap. And by doing that, being nice, basically you get a penalty."
Verstappen's win in Qatar saw him become only the third driver in Formula One history to break the 3,000 points barrier, joining Lewis Hamilton (4,847.50) and Sebastian Vettel (3,098) in achieving the feat.
Meanwhile, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said that the 27-year-old driver used the incident as a fuel to breeze to a ninth victory of the season.
"He was annoyed with George, and the way things played out in front of the stewards. And he carried that motivation into the race," Horner said.
"It was clearly evident that he was super-motivated going into this race.
"I think you could sense that George kind of sensed that as well. I think there was a little bit of a moment between the two of them on the trailer as they went around the circuit, that Max felt that things just went a bit too far."
The 2024 F1 season will conclude this weekend with the Abu Dhabi GP, with McLaren and Ferrari still battling for the Constructors' Championship.
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