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Qualifying report
Formula 1 Austrian GP

F1 Austrian GP: Verstappen pips Norris to sprint race pole

Max Verstappen will start Saturday's Formula 1 sprint race from pole position

Sprint pole winner Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, celebrates in Parc Ferme

Sprint pole winner Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, celebrates in Parc Ferme

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen beat McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to top sprint race qualifying at Formula 1’s 2024 Austrian Grand Prix – the Dutchman satisfied his car was “really nice to drive” in the contracted sprint format.

After the SQ3 drivers had waited for almost all the final qualifying segment to pass by before heading out on new soft tyres, the Mercedes pairs led the pack out of the pits.

Lewis Hamilton posted a 1m05.270s before he was immediately beaten by his team-mate George Russell and then Piastri came through to shuffle them down.

Norris produced the fastest time in the middle sector to nip ahead on a 1m04.779s, but Verstappen’s leading pace in the first and final thirds made the difference as he came through to top the session with a 1m04.686s – just 0.093s ahead of the McLaren driver.

“Great to be first here in front of basically my home fans, my home grand prix,” Verstappen said afterwards.

“It was a good day. It's really been nice to drive the car. I think immediately the car was well balanced. And then you make some little adjustments going into the sprint quali and everything has been working really well.

“So, yeah, good start to the weekend. Still, of course, a lot of things to do, but I'm happy with today.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Behind, Carlos Sainz slotted his Ferrari between the Mercedes drivers to take fifth, with Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly ending up seventh, eighth and ninth and appearing to pay the price for being at the back of the traffic queue on the SQ3 out-lap.

Charles Leclerc ended up 10th without setting an SQ3 lap in the other Ferrari after he had pulled over from between the Alpines in the pitlane with an apparent technical issue.

He rectified this and headed out, but did not cross the line in time to start a flying lap.

In SQ2, Kevin Magnussen produced the best first sector of this segment but lost time as his sole run continued and he wound up 11th – ahead of Aston Martin pair Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, plus Yuki Tsunoda and Logan Sargeant.

Stroll saved a massive moment at the final corner on his only attempt in SQ2, with those eliminated, plus the Alpine pair, having to complete an extra run on the mediums compared to the frontrunners getting out of SQ1.

In that, Hamilton had a nervy ride through after losing his first lap for going wide and dipping his right-side wheels in the gravel at Turn 6, then had a traffic-heavy second attempt before he progressed in 13th behind Alonso.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Logan Sargeant led Alex Albon from the off for the Williams and the former’s last-gasp improvement knocked Daniel Ricciardo out in 16th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, Albon and Zhou Guanyu.

In the closing seconds of the opening session where the drivers are obliged to run the medium tyres throughout, as those that made it also were in SQ2, Tsunoda spun off dramatically at the final two corners but was able to carry on without damage.

F1 Austria Sprint Race Qualifying result

   
1
 - 
3
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Time km/h
1 Netherlands M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 Red Bull Red Bull

1'04.686

240.311
2 United Kingdom L. Norris McLaren 4 McLaren Mercedes

+0.093

1'04.779

239.966
3 Australia O. Piastri McLaren 81 McLaren Mercedes

+0.301

1'04.987

239.198
4 United Kingdom G. Russell Mercedes 63 Mercedes Mercedes

+0.368

1'05.054

238.952
5 Spain C. Sainz Ferrari 55 Ferrari Ferrari

+0.440

1'05.126

238.688
6 United Kingdom L. Hamilton Mercedes 44 Mercedes Mercedes

+0.584

1'05.270

238.161
7 Mexico S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11 Red Bull Red Bull

+1.322

1'06.008

235.498
8 France E. Ocon Alpine 31 Alpine Renault

+1.415

1'06.101

235.167
9 France P. Gasly Alpine 10 Alpine Renault

+1.938

1'06.624

233.321
10 Monaco C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 Ferrari Ferrari

 

 
11 Denmark K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20 Haas Ferrari

+1.120

1'05.806

236.221
12 Canada L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 Aston Martin Mercedes

+1.161

1'05.847

236.074
13 Spain F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 Aston Martin Mercedes

+1.192

1'05.878

235.963
14 Japan Y. Tsunoda RB 22 RB Red Bull

+1.274

1'05.960

235.670
15 United States L. Sargeant Williams 2 Williams Mercedes

 

 
16 Australia D. Ricciardo RB 3 RB Red Bull

+1.895

1'06.581

233.472
17 Germany N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27 Haas Ferrari

+1.897

1'06.583

233.464
18 Finland V. Bottas Sauber 77 Sauber Ferrari

+2.039

1'06.725

232.968
19 Thailand A. Albon Williams 23 Williams Mercedes

+2.068

1'06.754

232.866
20 China Z. Guanyu Sauber 24 Sauber Ferrari

+2.511

1'07.197

231.331

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