Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying: Max Verstappen takes pole position by a hair over Charles Leclerc

Max Verstappen managed to overcome the obstacles of traffic and deleted lap times to secure another pole position. The Ferraris show up with Charles Leclerc in 2nd and Carlos Sainz in 3rd. Lando Norris delivers an impressive performance of the day with the 4th fastest time for Sunday.

Q1

The traps of this qualification are twofold: first, the traffic, then the limits of the tracks, which are exceeded on numerous occasions.

Max Verstappen sets the fastest time of this Q1 on his first lap, with a 1:05.190. Piastri impresses in 2nd place, just ahead of Sergio Pérez.

Then, almost halfway through the session, Bottas spins out at the exit of the first turn and comes to a stop in the grass, leaning on the DRS sign. The red flag is waved. During the few minutes of interruption, Max Verstappen’s time is cancelled for exceeding track limits.

At the restart, some drivers come out on new tires: that’s the case with the Ferrari drivers.

Max Verstappen takes the fastest time, without going off track this time. He is followed by Sainz and Leclerc.

The McLarens show resilience in Q1 with Norris posting the 2nd fastest time and Piastri securing the 7th fastest time, just minutes before the end. The McLaren appears to be working as expected this week, as stated by Andrea Stella.

Sergio Perez raises his voice at the end of the session and joins Verstappen at the top of the timesheet.

The track is improving and everyone is trying to improve in the last two minutes. Albon finishes 9th in this Q1, an impressive time for the Thai driver.

The eliminated drivers are Tsunoda (16th), Zhou (17th), Sargeant (18th), Magnussen (19th), and de Vries (20th).

Q2

Max Verstappen is dominating this start of Q2 by setting the fastest lap. But once again, it is cancelled. The same fate befalls Pérez and Stroll a few seconds later. Lando Norris is credited with the fastest time.

Max Verstappen takes back the best time in another attempt. Sainz ranks just behind with less than a tenth of a second behind.

Albon continues to work his magic with an 8th time, 5 minutes before the end of Q2.

While Hamilton is climbing up to 5th place, Russell is in 11th position with a few minutes left in the session. It is extremely close in this Q2. Sergio Pérez once again has his lap time canceled: he finds himself in 15th place with 3 minutes to go. The same thing happens to Russell, as he drops to 14th place.

In the final laps, Russell fails to extricate himself from the relegation zone! Perez’s last lap is invalidated, the Mexican driver drops to 15th and doesn’t make it to Q3. Ocon also fails to progress to Q3 with his last lap outside the track limits. Incredible performance by Alex Albon who makes it to Q3.

The eliminated drivers are Russell (11th), Ocon (12th), Piastri (13th), Bottas (14th), and therefore Pérez (15th).

Q3

Max Verstappen takes the fastest time once again, while staying within the limits of the track. Charles Leclerc positions himself in 2nd place, two tenths behind the Dutchman. On his first lap, Norris demonstrates the full potential of the updates on his car with the 4th fastest time on worn tires, just ahead of Hamilton on new tires.

With less than 3 minutes left in this qualification, the drivers get back on the track.

Max Verstappen improves his lap time and takes provisional pole position. Behind, Charles Leclerc enters the final sector with a slight advantage over the Dutchman but falls short by 48 milliseconds of the pole position. Carlos Sainz completes the top 3. Ferrari keeps its promises in Austria.