Red Bull's Max Verstappen continued his fine form by securing pole position at the Styrian Grand Prix on Saturday.
The current leader in the Formula One title race outgunned Mercdes pair Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to seal front place on the grid in Austria.
Bottas was second quickest but drops to fifth on the grid because of a three-place penalty imposed on Friday, leaving teammate Hamilton to start on the front row with Verstappen, who leads the drivers' championship by 12 points.
McLaren's Lando Norris will start in an impressive third spot at the Red Bull Ring ahead of Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez in fourth, while Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly is sixth ahead of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari.
Gasly's teammate Yuki Tsunoda is in eighth, with Fernando Alonso in the Alpine and Lance Stroll's Aston Martin completing the top 10.
Verstappen had been the standout performer in practice on Friday and looked in supreme control as he claimed his third pole position of the season, clocking a fastest time of 1 min 3.841 secs.
"It has been a very good weekend," said the Dutchman. "The car was very good to drive in qualifying. It was not easy to deal with the traffic, the fifth lap in Q3 was good enough in the end.
"Super happy to be on pole at home, it's always nice to see a Red Bull car on pole here. It's never easy but it's good for racing. I'm sure tomorrow will be very tough."
Bottas made a late dart and finished 0.194 secs behind Verstappen. The Finn, however, was penalised on Friday for "dangerous driving" after spinning in the pit lane and will start from fifth on the third row of the grid.
"Shame about the penalty, I think it was a strong qualifying," said Bottas. "If I look at practice two and three, I still struggling a bit with the set-up but it was a much better feeling. It felt good in the car and I felt I got the most out of the car."
As for reigning champion Hamilton, the British driver admitted that the Red Bull's are looking in ominously good form. "They have been so fast this weekend, we have been giving it absolutely everything.
"It wasn't the greatest of sessions but still on the front row after the penalty. I did everything I could and we go into the race tomorrow for a fight.
"They've generally had a quarter of a second on us all weekend. We have managed to eke closer in qualifying but in the race run yesterday they were 0.25 secs quicker.
"It will be interesting but I don't think we will have the pace to overtake them, but hopefully we can keep up."
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at Mount Maunganui
England 353
Stokes 91, Denly 74, Southee 4-88
New Zealand 144-4
Williamson 51, S Curran 2-28
The specs: 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman
Price, base / as tested Dh222,500 / Dh296,870
Engine 2.0L, flat four-cylinder
Transmission Seven-speed PDK
Power 300hp @ 6,500rpm
Torque 380hp @ 1,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.9L / 100km
The specs: 2017 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn
Price, base / as tested: Dhxxx
Engine: 5.7L V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 556Nm @ 3,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
Feeding the thousands for iftar
Six industrial scale vats of 500litres each are used to cook the kanji or broth
Each vat contains kanji or porridge to feed 1,000 people
The rice porridge is poured into a 500ml plastic box
350 plastic tubs are placed in one container trolley
Each aluminium container trolley weighing 300kg is unloaded by a small crane fitted on a truck
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
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more from Janine di Giovanni
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
