Both Mercedes cars crashed at the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday in a dramatic ending to a qualifying session that set the field for Sunday's sprint.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell walked back to the paddock after separate crashes, while Formula One leader Max Verstappen narrowly won the pole for the sprint race ahead of both Ferraris.
The sprint race sets the starting lineup for Monday's grand prix.
Verstappen earned his third pole of the year.
Hamilton was chasing his first since the penultimate race of last season when he misjudged a turn and slid off on Turn 8, dealing a blow to his chances of a first win since winning from pole in Saudi Arabia 12 races ago.
Hamilton crashed with about five minutes left. The seven-time world champion climbed out and inspected the mangled right front tire. He apologized to his team for a rare error.
“It was a big hit, but I’m OK," he said later. “Incredibly disappointed in myself and so sorry to the team who worked so hard to put this car together. We were fighting for a top three, I think. I don’t have an answer for it.”
When the session restarted, another red flag came out when the rear of Russell's car crashed into Turn 10. He was unharmed.
“I feel OK physically, just a bit concerned about the car," Russell said. "I wouldn't say lucky escape because we need to review the crash damage, there's nothing lucky or fortunate about making a mistake like that. I absolutely went for it because I thought there was an opportunity for third.”
Russell was summoned for walking across the track under a red flag but got off with a warning.
Verstappen found his pace on the last attempt to edge out Charles Leclerc by just .029 seconds and Leclerc's Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz Jr., by .82.
“In the end it was a really tight qualifying and it’s a really challenging track to get qualifying right,” Verstappen said. “The track temperature is dropping, the wind is picking up a little bit.”
His Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez finished fourth but starts 13th. The Mexican went off track limits on his last flying lap in Q2, and so all his times in Q3 were deleted.
As a consequence, other drivers moved up a spot for the sprint.
Russell starts fourth followed by Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher (both Haas), Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and Hamilton rising to ninth, and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) to 10th.
“I’m really quite far back," Hamilton said. "I don’t know what is possible from there, but it is a sprint race, so I hope I can make up for some lost time.”
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