Lewis Hamilton drama causes a FIRE during Austrian Grand Prix qualifying before Lando Norris romps to red-hot pole to boost his title ambitions
An incident involving Lewis Hamilton led to a fire breaking out during Austrian Grand Prix qualifying, bringing the session to a premature stop halfway through.
Hamilton ran wide of the final corner at the Red Bull Ring with just over five minutes remaining of Q2 and a small patch of grass quickly burst into flames.
The titanium skid block of the seven-time world champion's Ferrari dragged along the surface, igniting the blaze, but marshals were quick on the scene with extinguishers.
After the fire was quickly put out, drivers were allowed back onto the track.
The FIA opted to test using steel skid blocks during the Spanish Grand Prix but did not make the change despite the chaos in Japan in April.
Multiple grass fires caused delays to FP2 at Suzuka - with the red flags waved twice. Certain patches were watered and others were removed entirely to prevent a repeat.
After the action resumed in Austria, McLaren's Lando Norris delivered a red-hot lap to take pole position, fending off Charles Leclerc by a whopping 0.521 seconds.
Oscar Piastri, Norris' team-mate and the championship leader, will start third while Hamilton steered his Ferrari to fourth. Mercedes' George Russell took fifth.
Norris said: 'It was a good lap, that's for sure.
'My Q3 run one was good but I knew there were a few places where if I just got it right I could make up quite a bit more time and I did that.'
The inch-perfect lap will deliver a timely boost to Norris' fading championship hopes with Piastri having entered the weekend holding a 22-gap advantage. Last time out, the Brit crashed out in Canada after running into the back of his sparring partner.
Norris added: 'Qualifying has been some of my tough moments so to put in a lap like this is pleasing for myself. It's a long race tomorrow and a long season.
'I want to prove it myself over and over again and this is just the beginning of it.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
23 minutes ago
- BBC News
Farrell's late try gives Wigan victory at Castleford
Betfred Super LeagueCastleford (4) 20Tries: Tate 2, Asi, Wood Goals: Atkin 2Wigan (12) 26Tries: Field, Keighran, Eckersley, Farrell Goals: Keighran 5 Captain Liam Farrell scored a 77th-minute try as Wigan Warriors left it late to claim a hard-fought victory over Castleford Tigers and narrow the gap on Super League leaders Hull KR to four Tate's try with seven minutes to go had put the Tigers 20-18 up to leave the Warriors looking at back-to-back an Adam Keighran penalty brought the scores level and then Farrell was on hand to finish after Jai Field had burst through the Cas from Field and Keighran had given the Warriors an eight-point half-time advantage, but Castleford roared Tate's first-half score, Daejarn Asi and Sam Wood turned things in their favour only for Zach Eckersley to put Wigan back in front before the late drama. More to follow. Castleford: Cini; Simm, Senior, Wood, Tate; Asi, Atkin; Singleton, Horne, Amone, Lawler, Mellor, Griffin, Hall, Hill, Field; Eckersley, Keighran, Wardle, Douglas; Farrimond, Smith; Byrne, O'Neill, Thompson, Nsemba, Farrell, Havard, Mago, Dupree, Tom Grant.
Daily Mail
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Coco Gauff speaks out on Aryna Sabalenka as tennis stars prepare to renew rivalry after French Open storm
Coco Gauff has spoken out on her feud with fellow tennis powerhouse Aryna Sabalenka after the Belarusians controversial comments following the French Open. Gauff defeated Sabalenka at Roland Garros, with the world's No 1 saying after the defeat that the loss had more to do with her own mistakes than the American's solid play. Sabalenka faced major criticism in the public and later apologized to Gauff for her remarks, calling them unprofessional. Now, on the eve of Wimbledon, and a day after the two were spotted filming a TikTok together on Centre Court, Gauff has spoken out on everything that went down after her French Open triumph. Gauff did admit to wanting to hit back at Sabalenka, but held off after receiving the apology. 'I'm not the person that will fuel hate in the world,' Gauff said. 'I think people were taking it too far. ... It was just really targeting and saying a lot of things that I felt were not nice. I didn't want to fuel that more.' 'I preach love, I preach light. I just want us to be kumbaya, live happily, hakuna matata, and be happy here.' Sabalenka also had the chance to set the record straight in front of the press for the first time since leaving France. 'We are good, we are friends. I hope the U.S. media can be easy on me right now.' 'I was just completely upset with myself, and emotions got over me. I just completely lost it.' Sabalenka starts play at Wimbledon on Monday against Carson Branstine, while Gauff goes against Dayana Yastremska in first-round action on Tuesday.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
McCartney adds silver to haul at Euro Under-23 championship
Ellie McCartney won silver in the 200m breaststroke at the European Under-23 Championships in found herself third halfway through the race behind Denmark's Clara Rybek-Anderson and Lithuania's Kotryna surged ahead of Teterkova in the second 100 metres but fell short of catching 2024 European silver medallist Rybek-Anderson, who finished 0.13 seconds ahead of McCartney in two minutes 23.89 20-year-old from Enniskillen came in at two minutes 24.02 seconds for a personal best in the completes a set of medals for McCartney after she won gold in the 200m individual medley and bronze in the 100m breaststroke earlier in the week."I'm happy with how the past few days have panned out, in the general scale of things this is only one step forward to the World Championships in Singapore," she said."It's bittersweet being so close to getting gold again, but to get a personal best, I know I put my best foot forward and my best performance out there, and to walk away a European U23 champion is more than I could have dreamed of. "I've achieved my goals that I wanted to while I was here and anything else was a bonus, so I'm walking away with my head held high."
