F1 qualifying result: Hamilton claims 2015 Austrian Grand Prix pole position

The 30-year-old Mercedes AMG Petronas driver from Hertfordshire bagged pole at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg following a dramatic – and bizarre – finish to today’s qualifying session.

He secured the 45th pole position of his F1 career and seventh of the 2015 season thanks to his final lap on his first run in Q3.

Taking to Twitter afterwards, Hamilton tweeted: “Tricky out there today, but we did it guys. #TeamLH #AustrianGP @MercedesAMGF1”

His Silver Arrows colleague Nico Rosberg qualified second in Austria as Mercedes completed another front-row lockout. It was the team’s sixth 1-2 of the season.

The team has now claimed every pole position since last year’s Austrian Grand Prix -–19 in succession.

Both Mercedes drivers, however, had to rely on their opening runs in Q3 after spinning in an extraordinary climax to qualifying.

Hamilton claimed provisional pole with a lap of 1m 08.455s but failed to improve on that after spinning out at Turn One on his final qualifying attempt.

Despite the mixed conditions after rain during third practice this morning, this year’s pole time was 0.304s quicker than the 2014 benchmark – and just 0.118 shy of the circuit record.

Hamilton said: “Generally it was quite a difficult session, for everyone I think, with the conditions. I’m really grateful I got that third lap in on the first run in Q3.

“I was pushing hard to find more time on the final lap of the second run and just locked the rears into Turn One.

“At that point I was backwards in seventh gear and just focused on trying to make sure I didn’t damage the car.

“But then, once I stopped, I thought I’d probably lost it. It was bizarre but I’m really happy to get pole.”

Rosberg, who was 0.200s slower than Hamilton after the first runs, looked on course to challenge his Silver Arrows rival’s time until he ended up in the gravel trap at Turn 8.

That meant Hamilton joined Sebastian Vettel in joint third place in the all-time pole position standings with 45, behind Ayrton Senna (65) and Michael Schumacher (68).

Rosberg qualified second with a lap of 1m 08.655s. He said: “I had to push a lot at the end of my last qualifying lap – but I pushed a bit too much and went over the limit.

“I saw on my screen that I was two tenths quicker than on my previous run and therefore equal to Lewis.

“It was really up to the last few metres to make the pole happen but, at Turn Eight, I went wide and got a bit on the astroturf which was still wet.

“I think after that my left tyres were also wet and that made me lose control of the situation.

“It’s a shame but I still look very much forward to tomorrow. It’s a great race here and I still have good chances to win.

“I will need to have a good start to have a shot at Lewis but I will definitely be keeping the pressure high.”

Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, said: “On track, that was probably one of the strangest ends to qualifying I have ever seen.

“We had two drivers who thought they had lost pole, bringing out the yellow flags at different parts of the lap, and we still ended up on the front row.

“The mistakes on the final laps showed just how hard both guys were pushing out there.

“Nico had the upper hand for most of the session, then Lewis did a great time in Q3, before Nico was set to claim pole back until he went off at the last corner.”

Mercedes technical director Paddy Lowe added: “A great result but a bizarre ending when both of our cars spun off – one at the first corner and one at the last.

“It is a sign of how hard Lewis and Nico are pushing each other – right on the limit and, in this case, over the limit.

“It was also proof that qualifying in Formula One is all about ultimate pace – pushing driver and machine to the very limit.

“The session itself was a tricky one – especially with the drying track through Q1. There was a little bit of concern with Lewis, as we saw Kimi fall out at that point, but all turned out well.

“As the conditions improved, the session became more straightforward. Our plan had been built around getting secure lap times on the board with the first run in Q3 – fortunately so, as it turned out.”

Ferrari driver Vettel was third in the provisional qualifying results with 1m 08.810s.

Felipe Massa will join Vettel on the second row of the grid after recording a lap of 1m 09.192s for fourth place.

Nico Hulkenberg split the Williams drivers in fifth place, with Massa’s colleague Valtteri Bottas sixth in qualifying.

It wasn’t a great day for the McLaren-Honda team with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button qualifying 15th and 17th respectively, but both will start tomorrow’s Austrian Grand Prix from the back of the grid after each receiving 25-place penalties during this weekend’s event.

Alonso set the 15th-fastest time, but will receive a 25-place grid penalty.

This is composed of fifth ICE (10 places), fifth TC (five places), fifth MGU-H (five places) and a new gearbox (five places).

As a result, he will drop to 19th on the grid, and will serve the remainder of the penalty in the form of a drive-through penalty early in the race tomorrow.

Button set the 17th-fastest time, but will also receive a 25-place grid penalty.

This is composed of sixth turbocharger (10 places), sixth MGU-H (five places), fifth ICE (five places) and fifth MGU-K (five places).

He will, therefore, result, drop to 20th on the grid, and will serve the remainder of the penalty in the form of a 10-second stop-go penalty in the race.

Button said: “I was one of the first to cross the finish line in Q1, so everyone had a bit more time to improve while the circuit was drying.

“But I enjoyed it out there – it was actually a lot of fun. When the surface was tricky and unpredictable, I was looking pretty good, but once the circuit dried – and other people found their feet – I was only able to do what the car could do.

“I think there could have been a chance of getting into Q3 if the conditions had remained mixed.”

McLaren colleague Alonso added: “It’s going to be a difficult grand prix – a little bit painful – but hopefully we’ll get a lot of answers in the race tomorrow, and then use that data in the test next week.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s grand prix, pole-sitter Hamilton said: “It will be an interesting race tomorrow.

“Ferrari have shown great pace so it will be close with them. The tyres seem to be behaving so we should be set for a good battle.”

Mercedes supremo Wolff admitted Ferrari will be a threat on race day.

He said: “We think it will be a much more difficult race for us tomorrow.

“Ferrari did some seriously quick long runs yesterday and today and they looked quicker than us, so it will be a tough battle.

“We will let our boys fight tomorrow, like we have done all along, but it will be a challenging afternoon.”