Lando Norris takes pole position in the qualifying in Austria. Great performance by the English driver: zero errors and a fantastic performance. Piastri, on the other hand, does not shine and has to settle for third place. But Charles Leclerc comes in between the two papayas. Together with Hamilton fourth, he thus proved that Ferrari is competitive enough to be the second force in tomorrow's race.
Only seventh Verstappen, who will start even behind Lawson. Bad instead Mercedes, with Antonelli who, due to a timing problem, was unable to complete the second attempt in Q3, finishing ninth behind a sublime Bortoleto.
Qualifying in Austria begins with a very tight Q1
Qualifying starts in Austria at 16pm. The pit lane light turns green and the drivers immediately take to the track. They set the first times the two Williams, the two Haas and Lance Stroll. Ocon who manages to temporarily position himself in first place. A lead that, however, is immediately conquered by Nico Hulkenberg and his Sauber.
As the clock ticks down, however, the protagonists also take to the track of this world championship. In an initial confrontation between McLaren and Verstappen, Norris has the upper hand. Verstappen is now following the English number 4, while Piastri wastes a lap going long at the braking point of turn 4. Ferrari also makes its debut in these Austrian qualifiers, with Hamilton making himself safe in third position, while Leclerc is sixth.
With eight minutes to go, the top ten positions belong to the four big teams. Only intruders I'm the usual Hadjar and Gasly's Alpine. But then it strikes, Bortoleto's performance, who, thanks to an excellent lap, manages to position himself in fifth position. The gaps are minimal, improving by a tenth, or even less, can mean climbing one or more positions. For this reason, with two minutes to go in the session, everything is still up in the air. Even George Russell is on the brink of elimination.
Lawson, meanwhile, manages to get into third position, ahead of Gasly and Hadjar. At the end, however, the English Mercedes driver manages to get into eleventh position. Instead, Stroll, Ocon, Tsunoda, Sainz and Hulkenberg were eliminated. Great disappointment especially for the last three classified, from whom we certainly expected much more, compared to thefree practice.
Q2 on fire, red flag for a mini fire on the lawn
Fifteen minutes to earn a place in Q3. The two Ferraris are the first to leave their pits and, just like in the last round, Albon's Williams. Both Hamilton and Leclerc decide to mount a used red rubber, probably to try to secure two new sets for the final qualifying phase here in Austria. The Monegasque manages to set a slightly better time than the seven-time world champion. In the meantime, the other drivers also take to the track. The two Racing Bulls seem to be in particularly good shapeThanks to the new soft tyres, they placed themselves in first position with Lawson and in third with Hadjar.
In the end, however, the two McLarens are back in the lead, with Ferrari, after a second attempt, following closely behind at four tenths of a second. The driver currently having the most difficulty is, however, Max Verstappen. The Dutchman complains about a poor feeling with his car, despite being in fifth position. With just over five minutes to go, the qualification in Austria is frozen by a red flag. What has already been seen in is repeated Japan: the sparks due to the passing of the cars have a portion of the lawn set on fire just after the kerb that accompanies the last curve towards the finish line.
Nothing serious, the session resumes after just under ten minutes. However, the drivers do not immediately take to the track. Almost a minute and a half passes before we see activity on the track begin again. McLaren and Ferrari take to the track with used red rubber, while Verstappen is forced to use a new compound. The fight to avoid elimination is then tight, with Antonelli ninth ahead of Gasly and Albon. Whoever continues to shine is Gabriel Bortoleto, who manages to position himself in fourth position ahead of the two Ferraris. Leclerc, despite the used tyre, manages to take third position. In the meantime Alonso, Albon, Hadjar, Colapinto and Bearman are eliminated. Kimi Antonelli saves in tenth.
McLaren too strong: the front row is all papaya
There is a lot of anticipation for the final heat of this qualifying in Austria. At the green light in the pit lane, all ten drivers come out. Great satisfaction, meanwhile, for Bortoleto, who becomes the first Brazilian to reach Q3 since Felipe Massa in Canada in 2017. After the first carousel of hot laps, Norris sets the best lap. Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, does badly, finishing third behind an excellent Charles Leclerc, just over two tenths from first place. Mercedes is below par, that with Russell can't do better than the fifth pontoon. Furthermore, Driver number 63 was also noted for unsafe release against the two Ferrari drivers.
Max Verstappen's Red Bull, on the other hand, seems to be at sea, with which the Dutchman continues to struggle, travelling, two minutes from the end of qualifying, in sixth position. In the meantime the drivers return to the track for their second attempt, even if challenging McLaren's lead seems impossible. In fact, Verstappen, Russell and Leclerc do not improve. The same thing happens for Piastri, not very brilliant in this qualifying in Austria. Hamilton also remains in fourth position. Sixth place instead for Lawson, only seventh for Verstappen, then Bortoleto, Antonelli, who did not cross the finish line in time to make the last attempt and, finishing in tenth, Pierre Gasly, also the protagonist of a spectacular spin at the last corner.
Lando Norris thus takes his twelfth pole position, thanks to a 1:03.971. Charles Leclerc will start in second position alongside him, while Oscar Piastri will be in third place. The Australian driver, in his last attempt, was partly penalised by the yellow flag caused by Gasly's spin.
