The Austrian GP is a fan favorite every year. Why? Because it provides top-notch action on the track. The Red Bull Ring, with its fast corners and long straights, gives drivers the opportunity to test the track’s limits. While drivers enjoy driving on the limit, the circuit was particularly unforgiving today, and for almost every lap that was counted, two were deleted. That’s how challenging the track and the FIA were today, but Max Verstappen rose to the challenge and secured his fourth consecutive pole.

While he was belting out fastest lap after fastest lap, his teammate, Sergio Perez, looked like he had the pace too, only to fall prey to track limits time and again. And for the fourth consecutive week, while one side of the Red Bull garage celebrated, the other had no answers.

Max Verstappen wasn’t happy with the track limits

During qualifying, drivers are expected to push as hard as they can to set the fastest time possible. But within track limits. As soon as all four wheels go even a millimeter outside the white lines that define the track, their times get deleted. And the Austrian GP qualifying, because of the circuit’s high-speed Turns 9 and 10, probably saw more deleted lap times than actual ones.Q1 was absolute chaos, with most drivers’ times getting deleted—including the crowd favorites, Verstappen and Perez.

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After multiple deleted times, Verstappen went on the radio and told his engineer, “This is a joke, honestly, with these track limits. F**king ridiculous.“ While he got a hold of the car and the limits after Q1, Perez was still struggling. Two laps into Q2, he had exceeded limits at Turn 9 twice, and with effectively no time registered, he was down in P15. In his final run, he improved to P2, only to find out that he exceeded track limits again, but this time at Turn 10, dropping him back to P15 and out of qualifying.

But Max kept improving and, to no one’s surprise, got pole without having any lap time deleted after the ones in Q1. Even so, he wasn’t happy with the situation on track being the perfectionist he is. While talking to the media after qualifying, he said, “I think today looked very silly. It almost looked like we were amateurs out there, the amount lap times that were getting deleted. I don’t think it was a good look today.” 

Whether or not Max looked like an amateur, his teammate must feel like one. With the fastest car on the grid under him, this was Checo’s fourth consecutive weekend without a Q3 appearance. And his bad run of form doesn’t have an end in sight yet.

Read More: Sergio Perez Loses His Cool After Unforgivable Blunder as Daniel Ricciardo Mounts Excessive Pressure to Replace Him at Red Bull

Sergio Perez can’t catch a break

The last time Perez had a good qualifying was the last time he got pole. That was at the Miami GP almost two months ago. Two months ago, he was keeping up with Verstappen. Two months ago, he was still in contention for the title. And now, he’s 69 points behind Max in the championship and 9 points ahead of Fernando Alonso. And his chances of clinching the title slipping away can be credited to his mistakes in qualifying.

In Monaco, he crashed in Q1. In Spain, he slid into the gravel in Q2. In Canada, a bad tire strategy decision in Q2 left him fighting for grip. And in Austria, he couldn’t stay within the track. Considering he’s in the fastest car on the grid, he could’ve taken the liberty to not drive on the limit and still qualify for Q3. But he did, and in the process, got knocked out of Q2 once again.

F1 changed the format for Sprint weekends this year, with Friday qualifying to set the starting grid for the Sunday race. How Perez would be wishing the format was the same as last year so that he could try and make up places during the Sprint to secure a good starting position for the race. But luck doesn’t seem to be on his side this season.

What did you think of the track limits during qualifying at the Austrian GP?

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