George Russell kept his Austrian Grand Prix pole position following a brief scare following Max Verstappen's crash.
Verstappen spun off and into the barriers at Turn 9 on his final flying lap to bring out yellow flags, with the Mercedes drivers of Russell and Kimi Antonelli still on their final flying laps.
Russell ultimately put in a 1:06.113 to snatch pole away from Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton - but appeared to do so under double-waved yellow flags for Verstappen's incident.
After the incident was noted by the stewards, it was decided that Russell had not improved his time under double-waved yellows and so kept pole position - his fourth of the season and 11th of his career.
Russell kept his Austrian GP pole after it was found he did not pass through a double-waved yellow flag area.
In the regulations, when a driver passes through such an area, they are required to slow down and possibly be prepared to stop on the circuit.
Under single-waved yellow conditions, a driver must simply show that they have lifted whilst passing through the affected area to avoid any penalties.
Russell estimated he lost about a tenth-to-a-tenth-and-a-half after lifting, which Mercedes boss Toto Wolff explained was about a 100m lift.
This fulfilled the requirement for Russell to lift through the yellow flag zone - hence why he was not stripped of his pole position.
Antonelli, who had held provisional pole, mistakenly thought the yellow flags were double-waved, thus aborting his lap, which he believed was on course for second place behind Russell.
Double-waved yellows were in fact flown, but only after 15 seconds of single-waved yellows, during which time Russell passed through the area.
The championship leader will start fourth, behind Russell, Leclerc, and Hamilton.
Originally published by RacingNews365 —
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