July 8 (Reuters) - Red Bull's Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen took pole position for Saturday's Austrian Grand Prix sprint race after Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton and George Russell crashed in qualifying.

The Dutch driver took the top slot with a time of one minute 04.984 seconds, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc 0.029 seconds slower.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who took his first Formula One win less than a week ago in Silverstone, will start third on Saturday in a race that determines the starting grid for Sunday's grand 에그벳 prix.

Hamilton and Russell triggered a tense final two minutes of action after bringing out red flags in quick succession during the decisive final phase.

Hamilton's car snapped out of control and speared off into the turn seven barriers while Russell suffered a similar fate minutes later into turn nin

/>Hamilton will start 10th with Russell fifth. (Reporting by Abhishek Takle in Mumbai Editing by Peter Graff)