Lando Norris significantly boosted his championship aspirations by securing pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix qualifying. He achieved this with a dominant display at the Red Bull Ring, finishing a commanding 0.521 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.
Norris`s McLaren teammate and championship competitor, Oscar Piastri, will start from third. His final attempt in Q3 was disrupted when Pierre Gasly spun at the last corner, causing yellow flags that forced Piastri to slow down and abandon his fastest lap attempt.
This impressive qualifying performance follows the previous race in Canada, where a collision between the two McLaren drivers led to Norris retiring and subsequently dropping 22 points behind Piastri in the drivers` standings.
Speaking on team radio immediately after, Norris commented, “Nice to see the old me back every now and then.” He later elaborated in parc ferme, “It was definitely a good lap, that`s for sure. I guess it was little bit, by little bit. My Q1 was good but I knew there were a few places where I could get a bit more time, and I did exactly that. I did what I planned to do, so very happy.”
He added about the season ahead, “It`s a long season. I still savour this moment, particularly because some of my tougher moments this year have been in quali, but I`m excited. I`m happy with today but I want to prove it to myself over and over again, and hopefully this is just the beginning of it.”
Sunday`s 71-lap Austrian Grand Prix presents a crucial opportunity for Norris to reduce the points gap to Piastri before the season reaches its halfway point at Silverstone next weekend. However, with McLaren demonstrating such strong pace at the Red Bull Ring, he may still face a challenge from his teammate during the race.
Piastri`s initial run in Q3 had placed him just 0.062 seconds behind Charles Leclerc, who secured his best qualifying result since the Monaco Grand Prix by claiming second place on the grid.
Reflecting on his compromised final lap, Piastri stated, “It was the fact I didn`t get to start it, that was the problem. Lando has been very quick all weekend so it would have been a tough challenge, but I think we easily had enough pace in the car this weekend to get on the front row. Always a shame when you don`t get the chance.”
He added succinctly, “Sometimes, just not your day.”
Looking ahead to the race, Piastri remained optimistic: “I think there will be some opportunties tomorrow. I`m not planning on finishing third, that`s for sure.”
Lewis Hamilton, Leclerc`s teammate at Ferrari, qualified fourth, marking his best starting position of the season. This result underscores the apparent performance upgrade Ferrari has achieved this weekend with an updated floor.
Max Verstappen of Red Bull will start surprisingly low in seventh place. He was forced to abandon his final Q3 attempt due to the same yellow flags caused by Gasly`s spin in the final sector. This puts him one position behind Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls in sixth and two behind George Russell (Mercedes), the winner of the Canadian GP, who qualified fifth.
Gabriel Bortoleto reached Q3 for the first time in his career, securing an impressive eighth place for Sauber. He finished ahead of Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine) in the final qualifying session.
Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin narrowly missed out on a spot in the top ten, qualifying 11th, just 0.086 seconds outside Q3. He will line up ahead of Alex Albon in 12th place for Williams, marking only the second time this year a Williams driver has not featured in Q3. Isack Hadjar qualified 13th for Racing Bulls, followed by Franco Colapinto of Alpine in 14th and Oliver Bearman of Haas in 15th.
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) missed out on Q2 by a narrow margin of 0.051 seconds and will start the race from 16th. Esteban Ocon qualified 17th for Alpine, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda of Racing Bulls in 18th, who reported a lack of front grip. This was Tsunoda`s third Q1 exit this season, although his time in the session was only 0.263 seconds off his teammate Lawson`s Q1 pace.
Carlos Sainz suffered damage during the session and qualified 19th, ahead of Nico Hülkenberg of Sauber in 20th. (Note: The original source contained a likely error regarding Sainz`s team in this specific sentence).
