Rand Norris dominated the qualifying round to win the Austrian Grand Prix pole position before Charles Leclerc after thwarting championship leaders Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen.
Norris broke through all three qualifying segments and set two laps fast enough for the third quarter pole, following session topping time in the only two practice sessions he participated in. Briton was on the final lap at 3.971 1M best time, increasing 0.297 seconds in provisional pole time and took 0.521 seconds to P1, the largest pole margin of the season.
“It was a good rap, that’s certainly true,” he said. “I feel like Q3, run 1, was good, but if I could get it right I still could find a little more time and I knew there were a few places where I did exactly that.
“I did what I had planned. When I’m going to do something and it’s planning to go right, it usually goes very well. My tougher moments are a joy to perform all weekend like I had to put the raps like I did today.”
Norris’ path was slightly alleviated by both Pierre Guthrie and Verstappen, who ruined the final lap by Pierre Guthrie spinning the car from the final corner. The French sailed widely on gravel as they were trying to complete the final lap, causing a straight double-waving yellow flag in front.
Piastri was right behind him on a warm-up lap and couldn’t begin his final lap. Verstappen also returned to the road with a flying lap ruined by what he had to lift.
Leclerc was a major beneficiary and was slotted second on Ferrari despite being more than half a second away from Pace. However, Monegascu was optimistic about his second front row start as Scuderia showed a strong race pace on Friday.
“We brought in some new parts this weekend, and that certainly made a difference, because when you look at the gaps, everyone is very close,” he said. “We know we have a better car in the race than we do in qualifying, so we hope we can put a little more pressure on McLaren tomorrow.”
Piastri took third place on the grid despite not entering the second lap, but Australia made targeted progress on Sunday.
“Rand was so fast throughout the weekend, so it was a tough challenge (to take the pole), but I think I had enough pace to be in the front row this weekend,” he said. “But we can still race well from there, and I think our pace this weekend looked very strong.
“I think there are still some opportunities tomorrow. I’m not going to finish third. That’s certainly true.”
Lewis Hamilton came in fourth after appearing 0.09 seconds behind his teammate Leclerc.
George Russell took fifth place for Mercedes ahead of Kiwi and Verstappen, who fell seventh after being spoiled by knees in his second third quarter appearance of the season.
Gabriel Boltreto appeared in the first Q3 of his career to score 1.161 from the pace in the upgraded Sauber verification results from his previous top 12 on the grid.
Andrea Kimmi Antoneri was also caught up in the yellow flag and he left the pole for 9th and 1.3 seconds, as he couldn’t start his final lap before the session ended.
Spin Outgusley is in 10th place after fleeing the accident without any damage.
Fernando Alonso is in 11th place ahead of Alex Albon, who had no new tires in his final second run.
Isack Hadjar was a surprising elimination on the 13th after not matching his Q1 hour.
Franco Colapinto appeared in the second quarter for the second consecutive 14th place ahead of Haas driver Oliver Baerman, who led Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon on the grid, taking third place in the season.
Tsunoda was knocked out for the second time in the first quarter and locked in 18th place when he couldn’t lift it on the final flying lap. The Red Bull Racing driver was 0.263 seconds slower than Verstappen, the smallest deficit of the season was comfortable, with only 0.091 safety, complaining of lack of front grip when he returned to the pit lane.
Carlos Sainz was frustrated that he was knocked out to 19th place for suspecting he was a damaged Williams.
“Cars can’t be trusted,” he radioed the team. “It’s pulled under braking and there’s no load at high speeds – it’s not reliable.”
Nico Furkenberg completed Sauber’s order on the 20th.
result
