Formula 1 ®
Once again, Max pips Lando with pole for the Austrian Grand Prix Sprint race. Aston Martin fails to get out of SQ2 whilst a pair of Alpines makes the top ten.
Max will start the Austria sprint race from pole position after claiming top spot in Friday qualifying.
The teams let the clock tick until there was just enough time for just one lap per driver in the top 10, and the session rapidly boiled down to being a straight fight between Verstappen and Norris, the only two drivers to have taken poles in sprint races so far this season.
Norris was the first between them over the line, gapping the field — led by McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri — by 0.208s. Verstappen followed him shortly afterwards, and having set purple sectors in the first and last splits by slender margins, he pipped Norris by 0.093s for his second sprint pole of the season. “It’s been a good day so far,” he said. “It’s nice to drive the car. I think immediately the car was well balanced.
“Everything has been working really well — a good start to the weekend. I’m happy with today.”
Carlos Sainz qualified fifth and 0.44s back as the only Ferrari driver who set a time in the top-10 shootout. Charles Leclerc was forced to stop in pit lane with what appeared to be a tripped anti-stall system, and though he was able to restart and join the session, he missed the checkered flag by a matter of seconds, leaving him 10th without a time.
Lewis Hamilton qualified sixth after a scrappy qualifying session that almost saw him eliminate in SQ1 after running off the track exiting Turn 6. He was 0.584s off the pace.
Sergio Perez underwhelmed for Red Bull Racing in seventh and 1.322s adrift, beating Alpine’s Esteban Ocon by less than 0.1s, with Pierre Gasly in the sister French car trailing further back in ninth ahead of the lapless Leclerc.
Kevin Magnussen was only 0.049s shy of a top-10 berth after a last-gasp lap at the end of SQ2, qualifying 11th.
Max
“It was a positive day today. I am happy as we started off the day well and the car was in a good window. There was a small issue with the sensor in the practice session but we fixed that really quickly. Heading into qualifying, the car was really strong and I could push. We were quick in the high speed, which is important round here and hopefully we can keep that going tomorrow. Of course, there are always areas that we can do better so we will look at that tonight. Looking to the Sprint race tomorrow, this will give us an early indication of how the pace of the car will be for the race. But all in all, it was definitely a good start and I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend.”
Checo
“I think we were making good progress from the start during the first session and in to sprint qualifying. We were in the mix today, but unfortunately couldn’t really show it especially in SQ3 with Esteban in front. He left a very big gap in front of him and in the end, we were going to the limit against time and I crossed the line with around a second difference. It’s a shame because we had promising pace today, but unfortunately we were not able to maximise on this because of circumstances out of our control. I’m confident that tomorrow will be a better day, and that we can make up some ground here at our home race.”
Lance Stroll outqualified teammate Fernando Alonso by 0.031s. It’s the sixth time this year that the newly re-signed Stroll qualified ahead of Alonso in a grand prix or sprint qualifying session, bringing his head-to-head tally to 6-7 in the Spaniard’s favor — and 2-1 in his favor for sprints — on another disappointing afternoon of underperformance for Aston Martin.
Yuki Tsunoda qualified 14th ahead of Logan Sargeant in 15th after having both his SQ2 laps deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 6.
It’s only the second time Sargeant has outqualified teammate Alex Albon in his more than a season alongside the Thai driver at Williams, the previous occasion being sprint qualifying in Miami earlier this year.