Antonio Giovinazzi wound up 18th after he skated into the Turn 4 gravel trap on his last run, with Kimi Raikkonen behind in P19, ahead of Williams rookie Nicholas Latifi, who required to the track instantly in Q1 to make up for the time lost in his FP2 crash.
Behind Vettel came Pierre Gasly in the lead AlphaTauri, with his teammate Daniil Kvyat in P13, ahead of Esteban Ocon– making his first F1 certifying appearance because the 2018 Abu Dhabi GP– and Romain Grosjean.
Bottas broke the track record at the Red Bull Ring with a 1m02.939 s on his first run in Q3, with Hamilton not able to get under 63-seconds on his own first effort in the final sector as he wasted time in the second and third sectors.
Grosjean squeaked through ahead of his teammate Kevin Magnussen, while Russell, who was P15 before the final Q1 runs, did not enhance on his last effort– possibly losing thanks to a breeze of oversteer exiting the downhill right of Turn 4– and will start 17th.
Leclerc was the sole Ferrari runner in Q3 after Sebastian Vettel did not make it previous Q2, however the 2019 Austrian GP polesitter wound up nearly a 2nd slower than Bottas time.
Vettel had been at risk as he was only P10 after the first Q2 runs, and on his last effort he bounced over the kerbs at the very first and last corners, sliding large on each celebration and not enhancing as a result, with Leclerc only simply entering into Q3 with P10 at the end of Q2.
Carlos Sainz took P8, with Lance Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the leading 10.
In Q1, which was topped by Verstappen while Albon had a nervous wait as he was not sent out once again for a last run in the opening segment, last-gasp improvements from the Haas chauffeurs cost Williams a Q2 slot.
In Q2, which Bottas topped fractionally ahead of Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel was drastically knocked out when Albon leapt up the order with a late enhancement in the 2nd sector.
On their final flying tours, Bottas improved his time in the first sector however then slid into the gravel at the exit of Turn 4– later spinning on the lawn as he returned to the track– while Hamilton looked to be improving.
Alex Albon certified 5th in the second Red Bull ahead of the much-fancied RP20 of Perez, who nonetheless beat Ferraris Charles Leclerc to P6.
Verstappen took 3rd but will begin the race on the mediums after surviving Q2 on the yellow-walled rubber, with Norris rising to fourth with a spectacular last effort in his MCL35.
The world champ did better his time to a 1m02.951 s but wound up second on the grid for the race having actually topped all 3 practice sessions.
Max Verstappen declared third for Red Bull and will begin on alternate tires to the Mercedes motorists, with Lando Norris claiming a sensational fourth for McLaren as Racing Points rate was just sufficient for sixth for Sergio Perez and Ferraris kind failed even more than anticipated.
