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WATCH: Sebastian Vettel Spins During Styrian Grand Prix Qualifying

Published 07/11/2020, 1:01 PM EDT

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The second race weekend of the 2020 F1 season witnesses the F1 grid back in Austria. This time, the weather was the complete opposite from a week ago, with drivers worried about no qualifying.

Luckily, everyone was able to gingerly tiptoe out on track and set lap times. However, many of them quickly learned how dangerous the conditions were, like Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.

During the Q3 session of qualifying, Sebastian Vettel had just exited Turn 8 when his car snapped sideways. The out-of-control SF1000 slid sideways into the gravel until the 4-time world champion managed to rescue the car.

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Fortunately, he was able to rejoin the track without any damage.

Sebastian Vettel was not the only one to slide off

As it turned out, Vettel inadvertently caused Max Verstappen to spin as well. The German driver had rejoined the circuit and trundled to the pit lane since his lap was ruined.

As he turned in, Verstappen was just approaching on his flying lap. Evidently, he got a little distracted by Vettel’s Ferrari.

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This is because he also slid off and spun before the last corner. The good news is that he did not clatter the back of Vettel, nor did he hit the barrier.

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Sadly, he lost a chance to snatch pole position from Lewis Hamilton, the eventual pole-sitter. When he spoke to Sky F1 after qualifying, he revealed that he didn’t hold the incident against Vettel.

This is because, though he was faster than Hamilton’s benchmark time, the Mercedes driver was going even faster. So, even without Vettel’s unexpected and unintentional interference, chances were that Lewis Hamilton would still be on pole position.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel gave Ferrari little to smile about as the lead Ferrari driver down in 10th place. The day had already gone to the dogs when Charles Leclerc got knocked out in Q2 and will start 11th.

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Sadly, Vettel himself faired no better and languished down at the tail of the top 10. In other words, the Scuderia Ferrari duo has a massive mountain to climb in order to get back to the front.

 

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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