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Bottas beats Vettel to Austrian GP pole

Spielberg - Valtteri Bottas upstaged both title protagonists on Saturday by claiming his second pole position for Mercedes in a tense qualifying session for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix.

The Finn clocked a best lap of one minute and 4.251 seconds to outpace championship leader Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari by four hundredths of a second.

Briton Lewis Hamilton, who trails Vettel by 14 points in the title race, was third fastest in the second Mercedes, but will start the race from eighth on the grid due to a five-place penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.

The session ended in some disarray when Frenchman Romain Grosjean stopped his Haas out on the track to bring out a series of yellow flags that prevented any final fast laps.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, will start from third in the second Ferrari ahead of Australian Daniel Ricciardo and his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen, backed by a crowd including 10 000 Dutch fans at the Red Bull Ring.

Grosjean was seventh ahead of Mexican Sergio Perez and his Force India team-mate Esteban Ocon, with Spaniard Carlos Sainz 10th for Toro Rosso.

The starting grid for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix after qualifying on Saturday:

1st row

Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Mercedes)

Sebastian Vettel (GER/Ferrari)

2nd row

Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Ferrari)

Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Red Bull)

3rd row

Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull)

Romain Grosjean (FRA/Haas-Ferrari)

4th row

Sergio Perez (MEX/Force India)

Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes)

5th row

Esteban Ocon (FRA/Force India)

Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Toro Rosso)

6th row

Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Renault)

Fernando Alonso (ESP/McLaren)

7th row

Stoffel Vandoorne (BEL/McLaren)

Daniil Kvyat (RUS/Toro Rosso)

8th row

Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas)

Jolyon Palmer (GBR/Renault)

9th row

Felipe Massa (BRA/Williams)

Lance Stroll (CAN/Williams)

10th row

Marcus Ericsson (SWE/Sauber)

Pascal Wehrlein (GER/Sauber)

Note: Lewis Hamilton finished third fastest in qualifying but starts from eighth after a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox

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