Lewis Hamilton will start from 18th in the sprint race of the Austrian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton will start the sprint race in Austria from 18th as Max Verstappen took pole position.

Hamilton’s low starting position is the result of the seven-time world champion having to cancel three laps for exceeding track limits during Saturday morning’s so-called ‘shootout’ qualifying session.

The 23-lap sprint takes place on Saturday afternoon (3.30pm BST) with eight points for the winner. The result will not affect the Grand Prix grid on Sunday.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, a barely believable 0.5 seconds back on a drying track, starts Saturday’s blast in second with Lando Norris a brilliant third for McLaren.

Hamilton was stunned when his fate dawned on him, saying over the radio, “That was a really bad use of time, man. Are we gone?’

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took pole position with Sergio Perez second on the Red Bull Ring

“Yes, we are,” replied race engineer Pete Bonnington.

It was only the second time in six years that Hamilton had failed to make it to Q3 – the last being at Jeddah last season.

Here he was penalized for constantly wandering past the white lights into the final corner, Turn 10. He was far from the only driver to see his time cut – having been cut 47 times on Friday night during qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

“The sprint race doesn’t really matter,” Hamilton looked back. “Today I will have some fun from the back.

“I wish I was still there (qualifying), but there’s really nothing to say. We focus on what we can do, and we could easily have gone much further.’

It was a bad session on a cloudy Red Bull Ring for Mercedes, with George Russell retiring after Q2 with a hydraulic problem. He starts 15th.

Despite the disappointing finish, Hamilton vowed to ‘have some fun from the back’