Gary Paffett takes his fifth pole of 2018 at a drying Red Bull Ring

Mercedes-AMG’s Gary Paffett timed his second stint in today’s qualifying session to perfection to score his fifth pole position of the season, a first step to recover from Saturday’s disastrous race.

Paffett suffered a broken steering column in Saturday’s race, with the Team HWA replacing it ahead of practice and qualifying.

The session started on a partially damp circuit, with drivers venturing to the track on slicks. As the track was constantly improving, the teams timed the second stints to maximise the time on the track and make the most of the track position in the final minute of the session.

Paffett got it right in his second stint to score his fifth pole position of the year with a best lap time of 1:23.404, just 0.028 seconds ahead of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportline’s Nico Müller.

Championship leader Paul di Resta was third, followed by fellow Mercedes-AMG drivers Edoardo Mortara and Pascal Wehrlein, with the 2015 champion 0.344 seconds off the pace.

Joel Eriksson was the fastest BMW driver in sixth, followed by Timo Glock. Yesterday’s winner René Rast was eighth for Audi, 0.462 seconds behind Paffeett.

Mercedes-AMG’s Daniel Juncadella and BMW’s Philipp Eng completed the top ten, with the Austrian half a second off the pace.

Paffett said after the session: “The guys, the mechanics in the team, are amazing. We had a very big issue with the steering, so not only they put it back together but also gave me a car quick enough to get pole position. The race is going to be tough, but job number one is done!”

The pole position means three points added to Paffett’s account, with di Resta taking a single point for third place. The Scot leads the championship with 217 points, seven ahead of the Paffett.

The start of Race 2 is scheduled for 13:30 CEST.