Verstappen Grabs Pole for Austrian Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying
Max Verstappen will start from pole position in Saturday’s Austrian Grand Prix sprint race after a thrilling sprint qualifying session. The Red Bull driver narrowly edged out McLaren’s Lando Norris by just 0.093 seconds to secure the top spot.
Dominant Performance
Verstappen was fastest in all three stages of qualifying, this showed just how consistently fast he can be. However, the real challenge came in SQ3 when Norris finally delivered a fast lap on soft tires, but it wasn’t enough to dethrone Verstappen on the day.
McLaren’s Strong Showing
Oscar Piastri will start from third, finishing 0.208 seconds behind his McLaren teammate Norris. Piastri’s performance solidifies McLaren’s strong presence on the grid. George Russell of Mercedes secured the fourth spot, followed by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fifth.
Hamilton’s Costly Mistake
Lewis Hamilton made a crucial error at Turn Three during his hot lap, resulting in a sixth-place start. He will be ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Pérez, who qualified seventh. Hamilton will surely be disappointed with the result as he was on pace to qualify higher up the grid.
Alpine’s Impress
The two Alpine drivers, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, continued their impressive form, qualifying eighth and ninth respectively. After struggling during the beginning of the season with being at the back end of qualifying, Alpine is not waving the white flag on the season just yet. Thanks to recent upgrades and persistance, the results are starting to show during qualifying session as of late.
Near Misses and Struggles
Charles Leclerc of Ferrari will start in tenth after failing to set a time in SQ3. Leclerc’s engine shut down just before he joined the track, costing him valuable time. Kevin Magnussen was just 0.049 seconds away from making it into SQ3 and will start 11th. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso will start 12th and 13th, with Stroll making a costly mistake in the final corner, dipping two wheels into the gravel.
Yuki Tsunoda qualified 14th for VCARB, ahead of Williams’ Logan Sargeant, who outqualified his teammate Alex Albon for only the second time this year. Daniel Ricciardo missed out on SQ2 by a mere 0.023 seconds and will start 16th, just ahead of Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg in 17th.
Back of the Grid
Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas will start 18th, ahead of Albon in 19th. Zhou Guanyu will bring up the rear after having his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits.
View the full timing results of the sprint qualifying session here.
As the drivers prepare for the sprint race, Verstappen’s pole position sets him up as the favorite, but with Norris and Piastri close behind, the sprint will be an interesting window of the teams progress during the weekend so far at the Red Bull Ring.
