The Red Bull driver and local favorite appeared to have been overshadowed by a last-minute Ferrari threat that peaked after two red flags in Q3 that were sparked by Lewis Hamilton and then George Russell.
With defending champion Verstappen wasting time during the first half of the lap in his final course, Leclerc could have taken first place when he passed over the line to move on to first place.
But Verstappen took it out of the bag regaining lost ground in the last sector to score what could have been an unlikely pole. He was the only rider to dive in the 1m04s.
Indeed, the classification had been reduced to the last 2m30 after the Mercedes accidents.
The Q3 banker from Verstappen had him provisionally faster when he left the Red Bull Ring pits behind the two Ferraris.
Leclerc was the first to cross the line to start his last push for pole, only to drop a tenth in the first sector at Verstappen.
But he got it back with a faster global final sector, while Verstappen seemed to be out of pace.
Therefore, Leclerc jumped to the top of the standings with an effort of 1m05.013s.
Sainz drifted a bit with a 1m05.066s, complete with three personal bests, which seemed to have the pole cemented for Leclerc.
But then Verstappen pulled off a personal best end mark that was enough to make up for the damage before the lap and threw in a 1m04.984s to catch a remarkable speed race pole in 0.19s.
Sainz will join the second row of the grid for Sergio Pérez, as Russell’s effort before the fall was enough for fifth place ahead of Esteban Ocon.
Kevin Magnussen finally had his legs on Haas teammate Mick Schumacher to end a team dispute in seventh place, while Fernando Alonso was ninth.
Hamilton, meanwhile, shuffled to 10th place as a legacy of his incident that happened in the first half of the final 10 minutes of qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13 hits
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
In the first of Mercedes ’derivations, Hamilton had taken out the red flags in Q3 with 5m29 for the finish after deviating to the curve 7 barrier.
The seven-time champion, who had just overstepped out of turn 6, was a bit wide from the apex, causing the back of his Mercedes W13 to get out of control.
Hamilton corrected it quickly, but when the car caught on, the applied steering lock threw him off the road and through the gravel.
It crashed sideways against the wall to break the right front and back corners.
The diversion was greeted by the cheers of the Dutch crowd, Hamilton had been a credible front row threat after leading the times for much of Q2 as he reduced his time to 1 min 05.475 before finishing third behind Leclerc and Verstappen. .
After the 11-minute break, Russell followed Alonso out of the pits to enjoy the fresh air as he sought to improve on his fifth fastest effort.
But despite the unhindered race, he ran slower than his personal best in the first sector to stand 0.42 seconds off the Verstappen benchmark before showing a second green sector.
Then, unlike his teammate, Russell lost the back by the last corner, as he broke too violently to drop Russell toward the outer wall of the tire, and eventually ruined his rear spoiler. .
Russell continues under investigation to enter the track without permission on turn 10 as he crossed the track under the red flag to return to the Mercedes garage.
George Russell, Mercedes W13
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Perez could also create more controversy. The Monaco GP winner had a single shot to go up in Q3 after several breaches of the track limits had eliminated his lap times.
He then advanced to the final part of the standings in his last attempt, finishing Q2 in sixth place, only to later stand out for overcoming the white lines in the left-right transition by the open chicane of the 7- turn. 8 after finishing the session and positions 11-15 decided.
Norris had been the main casualty of Q2, having finished the first part of the eighth classification, despite running off the road at turn 3, to massively overshadow his teammate Ricciardo.
But the driver who caused the first of the two red flags in FP1 after reporting smoke under his seat finished last in Q2 as the Briton was afraid to brake.
The McLaren driver started the 15-minute dice overturning on turn 3 before enduring understeer masses on turn 4 to cut the gravel and eliminate his lap time.
On his next attempt, he ran very deep into turn 1 and had to abort the corner.
This left him last and timeless, as he then damaged three of the seven defined curves, although the FIA recognizes 10 turns.
It closed at turn 3 and turn 4 before re-labeling the kitten trash at the exit of turn 6. Norris had one last possible attempt, but finished the 15th session.
Later thanks to a 1m06.160s, Pierre Gasly had been the first driver to miss Q3.
He turned 0.11 s slower than Schumacher to set the 11th fastest time ahead of Albon’s Williams FW44 and Valtteri Bottas ’Alfa Romeo.
Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-22
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Yuki Tsunoda was 14th, after ruining his last attempt at slipping on turn 1, which was greeted with anger by the team’s radio for the AlphaTauri runner.
Ricciardo’s difficult season and Silverstone’s uninspired form endured as he became the first to miss Q2: the Australian missed the cut by 0.024 s.
As teammate Norris finished the first part of the 18-minute standings in eighth place, despite running off the road on turn 3, Ricciardo only managed 16th to lose to Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri .
Meanwhile, Lance Stroll had appeared on the verge of advancing to the second half of the standings, running into the top 15 for much of the initial tactic, only to fall to 17th.
The rider was an offender with multiple track limits, ran wide on turn 10, the last turn, to eliminate his current lap and the next before pushing his luck on turn 1.
He still stayed ahead of Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo, while Nicholas Latifi brought the Williams of the old specs to 19th place ahead of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel.
The Aston Martin driver had initially made a faster lap than his teammate only to be sent to the bottom of the times when he exceeded the track limits on turn 10 to clear his time.
Austrian F1 GP: complete result of the classification