Lando Norris joins an impressive pole position in Austria in front of Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri with Max Verstappen P7
Lando Norris sealed a pole commanding position in qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix, the driver of McLaren recording a time which was half a second apart from the nearest Challenger Charles Leclerc to mark the largest pole margin of the season so far.
After fixing the pace in T1 and T2, Norris continued this theme by claiming a provisional pole during the first races in the third quarter – but the McLaren man went even better during his next effort, pumping in a 1m 03.971.
Leclerc had a solid session in P2 for Ferrari, despite the fact that 0.521 s adrifts from Norris, while Oscar Piastri was among those affected by a brief yellow flag in the last moments of the session after a tower for Alpine stone, which means that the runner McLaren missed outside the closure and had to settle for P3.
Lewis Hamilton slipped into fourth place for Scuderia, while the winner of the Canadian Grand Prix George Russell finished fifth from the Mercedes. Liam Lawson was an impressive sixth at the wheel of the Racing Bulls machine, which means that he will start in front of Max Verstappen in the seventh, the Red Bull driver having also been hampered by this late yellow flag.
Gabriel Bortoleto shone during the qualifications, the recruit of Kick Sauber securing P8 on the grid, with Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes and the aforementioned gas ending the top 10 of the Ring Red Bull.
While Bortoleto drew attention by going to the third quarter for the first time, Fernando Alonso – The man at the helm of the Brazilian management team – missed after leaving P11 for Aston Martin, with Alex Albon after P12 during a difficult day for Williams.
Isack Hadjar took 13th rank for racing bulls, after abandoning his last flight round in the second quarter, while Franco Colapinto d’Alpine and Ollie Bearman de Haas were 14th and 15th respectively.
The release of the Q1 titles was that of Carlos Sainz, the driver of Williams being eliminated in P19 before reporting the possible damage to his car compared to team radio.
Lance Stroll (P16), Esteban Ocon for Haas (P17), the Red Bull by Yuki Tsunoda (P18), were also eliminated in the first segment of qualifications.
As it happened
Q1 – The fastest norris at the exit of Sainz
After three loaded training sessions, the Paddock attentions went to the qualifications on Saturday in the Red Bull ring. With Norris fixing the rhythm in FP2 and FP3, could McLaren continue this series of form to take pole position?
After a short delay for the current session after a red flag in the previous form 2 sprint race, Albon led a queue of cars when the green light appeared for the first quarter in the middle of hotter conditions in Spielberg, with everyone performing the soft C5 tires for his first races.
While Norris was putting himself at the top of the time leaves during the initial towers – fixing a 1m 04.672 to go to four tenths away from Verstappen – Piastri had a 4 -round round time on his first flying round, the Australian crossing the gravel on the way.
Having put a more fluid effort during his next attempt, Piastri then slipped into P2, his three -tenth time from Norris. At the other end of the time leaves, the drivers who lingered in the elimination area with a few remaining minutes were Bortoleto, Albon, Bearman, Alonso – who also had an oscillation on his knees – and Sainz.
Bortoleto drew attention by transporting himself to fifth place, while his teammate Hulkenberg found himself pushed into the danger zone. Albon also made an impressive improvement to move Bortoleto to P5, while Sainz stayed on the bubble after giving a boost on its outing.
This meant that Haas and Stroll cars had fallen into the last five – with Hulkenberg and Alonso – in the middle of a frantic closure of a few minutes of first quarter. Standing, Lawson reached P3 to place itself between Pitri and Verstappen, just as Ocon also went to P13.
Bearman got up in the top 10, with Alonso and walk and then improve their time to escape at the beginning. Ocon was postponed accordingly, just like Tsunoda, Sainz and Hulkenberg, while Russell faced an agonizing moment after an error on his knees put him in danger of early exit.
The Briton managed to climb 11th – but others were not so lucky in an incredibly tight session, including Sainz who found himself in a disappointing 19th in the checkered flag. Also eliminated (16th), Ocon (17th), Tsunoda (18th) and Hulkenberg (20th).
Kincé: walk, Ocon, Tsunoda, Sainz, Hulkenberg
Q2 – Norris advantage again while Bortoleto impresses
The Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton were early on the right track while 15 minutes took place on the clock for the second quarter, joined by Albon in an initially calm start of the segment before others started to filter on the circuit a few minutes later.
Lawson continued its notable performance in Q1 by briefly going in the first races, but it did not take long for Verstappen to move it to the top – which was then usurped by Piastri then Norris, the Briton beating his teammate by 0.146 on a 1m 04.410S.
While Leclerc and Hamilton then placed themselves behind Piastri, Verstappen pointed out a badrr behind the wheel of the RB21, the Dutch indicating the radio: “The car is completely unjustifiable.” With a little over five minutes to play, a red flag was then thrown away because of a short track.
As the session resumed, the drivers at risk were Albon – who was three tenths from Gasly in P10 – Bearman, Alonso, Bortoleto and Colatino. Could someone climb in the top 10 shots in the last moments?
Bortoleto shone again by pulling to third place in a final animated in the second quarter – marking his first progression towards the third quarter – before Verstappen pushed him to fourth row, while Leclerc then took the third row of the world champion. Gasly also drew attention by improving sixth to compete in front of Russell.
And while Norris reigned supreme on his previous reference, Alonso found himself pushed out of the session in P11, while Albon became the second Williams to miss the Top 10 in P12. Behind him, Hadjar found himself in P13, with Colarpinto in P14 and Bearman in P15.
Kincé: Alonso, Albon, Hadjar, Colapinto, Bearman
Q3 – pole position for Norris while the yellow flag causes a drama
After an initially calm start in the third quarter, the pilots quickly started to go out on the track for the very important shooting of the top 10. There seemed to be a careful call in the path of Mercedes stands, Russell apparently released on the path of other cars in the queue in an incident which was noted by the delegates.
As the first laps made the table, it was Norris again who was the fastest, the Briton pumping in a 1m 04,268 to exceed the two tenths of his Pitri teammate.
Leclerc then separated the McLaren pair in P2, with the other Hamilton Ferrari in P4 while Russell finished the first five. Verstappen, Antonelli, Bortoleto and Gasly followed, Lawson choosing not to define a banker’s tour.
When entering the last minutes, tensions increased as the battle for pole position was activated – could Norris keep to claim 12th place in his career? The chances of the British certainly seemed strong when he went even faster on a 1m 03.971.
There was a drama for some of those who were trying to challenge Norris when a yellow flag was briefly launched following a tour for Gasly in the last corner, which means that the tastes of Piastri and Verstappen had to bail out their final efforts.
When everything had shaken, Norris remained at the top of 0.521 of the closest Challenger Leclerc – marking the biggest pole margin of the season to date – while Piastri had to settle for third place, not being able to start his last flying lap because of this yellow flag.
Hamilton ended a decent day for Ferrari in fourth position, with Russell after fifth ahead of Lawson in sixth grade, an impressive performance of the Bulls Racing pilot. Verstappen took seventh – having also had to abandon his closing race – Bortoleto, Antonelli and Gasly completing the Top 10.
Key quote
“It was a good turn, that’s for sure,” said Norris. “I guess just a little bit about it. I have the impression that even my Q3 race was good, but I knew there were a few places where if I had just things, I could still take a little more time – and I did exactly that. I did what I planned to do, and when I plan to do something and it is fine, it goes normally, so I can keep it, and it was a good day, and it was a good day, and it was good, So we can keep that. “
What is the next step
The Austrian Grand Prix 2025 is expected to start at 1500 locals on Sunday. Head to the Racing hub To find out how you can catch the action of the Red Bull ring.
