Formula One leader Max Verstappen took pole position for Red Bull's home Austrian Grand Prix on Friday.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc will line up alongside Verstappen on the front row with teammate Carlos Sainz and McLaren's Lando Norris, in a newly upgraded car, immediately behind.

The pole was Verstappen's fourth in a row, while his teammate and closest title rival Sergio Perez had another nightmare and qualified only 15th.

Perez, already 69 points behind Verstappen after eight races all won by Red Bull, failed to make the top 10 for the fourth race in succession.

The Mexican had been second fastest in phase two of qualifying, held on Friday because of the sprint weekend format, but had three laps deleted for failing to stay within the track limits at turns nine and 10.

Verstappen, winner of six races so far this season and chasing his fifth victory in a row on Sunday, said it had been hard to stay within the lines at Spielberg's Red Bull Ring, which has the shortest lap on the calendar in terms of time.

"We don't do it on purpose but with these speeds and the high-speed corners it's so hard to judge the white line," said the Dutch driver.

"It was about surviving ... it takes out the joy a little bit."

"It feels good to finally have a clean qualifying again and be back on the front row. The feeling has been a bit better in the last few races," said Leclerc.

"I managed to put everything that I wanted in that last lap of Q3, very close to Max. Not enough today but overall, I don't think we expected to be so close to the Red Bulls so it's a good step forward."

Alfa Romeo's Chinese racer Zhou Guanyu finished 17th in the qualifying.

"I feel like where we are today doesn't really reflect our performances: I reckon we had the pace for more," said Zhou.

"I am confident we have a chance to climb up the field, and get into the points," he added.

(With input from Reuters)