Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes has qualified on pole position for Sunday's season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.
Bottas upset the odds to beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position for by just 12 thousanths of a second.
World champion Hamilton had dominated the weekend at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, topping every practice session.
But Bottas delivered when it mattered most to prevent his Mercedes team-mate from opening the defence of his title with top slot on the grid.
The Finn ran off the road on his final lap, but despite Hamilton improving on his opening attempt with his last throw of the dice, it is Bottas who will line up first.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished third, albeit half-a-second down on the dominant black machines, with young Briton Lando Norris delivering the best performance of his career to qualify fourth for McLaren.
Ferrari headed into the new campaign fearing they would be trailing the big-hitting teams. And their dread was confirmed here when Sebastian Vettel was eliminated from the second phase of qualifying.
The four-time world champion, who will be moved on by the Scuderia at the end of the year, qualified only 11th, 1.2 seconds off the pace.
His team-mate Charles Leclerc sneaked through to the top-10 shootout but will line up only seventh.
Q3 CLASSIFICATION
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2020
It was CLOSE between the Mercedes pair!
Norris splits the Red Bulls in P4 #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/AdnaqCl8W0
Meanwhile, Formula One stewards have rejected a Red Bull protest against a new steering system used by champions Mercedes in practice.
