F1 Daily round-up: F1 venue change, another penalty & Hamilton's A-game

Max Verstappen will start the Styrian Grand Prix from pole position, but will lineup alongside Championship rival Lewis Hamilton who starts from P2. The Dutchman will start his second consecutive race from pole for the first time in the same season. This is your daily F1 round-up featuring the biggest news from on and off the track.

"This is absolutely no coincidence anymore," Verstappen acknowledge. "Of course it will still fall the other way once in a while, but so far we're doing pretty well on Saturday," the Dutchman says of his speed over during qualifying. If red flags and a small mistake at the previous Grand Prix hadn't spoiled things, Verstappen believes there could have been more pole positions.

In the championship battle with Lewis Hamilton, it is in Verstappen's best interest to start the race from the best possible position. During the races it has become clear that Mercedes often have a better setup. In France Hamilton and Bottas were actually faster, but chose the wrong strategy. Hamilton now claims that Red Bull are also faster in the long runs, causes some confusion with Verstappen. Click here to read the full story.

On Friday, Valtteri Bottas picked up a three-place grid penalty for dangerous driving in the pit lane. The Mercedes drive spun his car as he left the pit box and nearly collided with McLaren mechanics. But that's not the end of the penalties during the Styrian Grand Prix weekend. Yuki Tsunoda has also been handed a three-place grid penalty for an incident that involved Valtteri Bottas. Click here to read the full story.

Red Bull Racing are really taking the challenge to Mercedes in 2021. In Austria, the team didn't get anywhere near Max Verstappen, which Toto Wolff is not happy about. In FP3 Lewis Hamilton was the fastest and that gave Mercedes some hope for qualifying. Also in the first sessions, it looked good for the team, but in Q3 Max Verstappen showed that he is the fastest man. Toto Wolff was therefore not satisfied with the result. Click here to read the full story.

It's been nearly two full months since Lewis Hamilton last recorded a pole position in Formula 1. Red Bull Racing have the upper hand heading into the middle part of the season and Mercedes are having to fight really hard for the 2021 World Championship. In the Styrian Grand Prix, Hamilton will start alongside Verstappen on the front row of the grid. The two World Championship contenders will be doing battle again in the race, for which Hamilton is bringing his "A-game".

"We can't put more downforce on because we'd go slower on the straights. We're already losing on the straights so there's no hope for that. It said it was going to rain the past two days but it didn't. I've not thought about [rain tomorrow], I don't care either way. I need to bring my A-game, end of story." Click here to read the full article.

the Russian circuit Igora Drive has announced that they will host the Russian Grand Prix from 2023 onwards. Currently the F1 drivers race in Sochi, but that will change from 2023 onwards. The deal is done and next year will be the last time we drive through the Olympic Park in Russia. Igora Drive is a circuit 50 kilometers from St. Petersburg and was supposed to host a round in the DTM Championship last year. Hermann Tilke, who is known for designing several F1 circuits, redesigned the track in 2017 and it received the FIA Grade 1 license last year, which is required to host a Formula One Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton ended Max Verstappen's reign in free practice sessions for the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix by going quickest in FP3. Verstappen looked on course to complete the set by coming out on top once more in practice sessions at the Red Bull Ring, but Hamilton pulled it out of the bag. The Brit's time of 1:04.369 was 0.204 seconds quicker than Verstappen, and with qualifying coming up later on Saturday, the Dutchman will need to find some pace. Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez and perhaps surprisingly Yuki Tsunoda rounded off the top five. Click here to read the full FP3 report.

Max Verstappen will start from pole position in Sunday's Styrian Grand Prix. The Dutchman records back-to-back pole positions inside the same season for the first time in his career as he looks to take a grip on the World Championship over rival Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton tried to beat Verstappen's time in the final run of Q3, but the seven-time World Champion made a major mistake on the lap and failed to improve. With Bottas' penalty, Hamilton will start from the front-row. Lando Norris will start from third as the McLaren driver impresses again. Click here to read the full qualifying report.