Austrian GP: Pole position for Verstappen after fight with Leclerc

Once again, the name Max Verstappen will be next to the pole position. The Dutchman was fastest in qualifying for the Austrian GP.

Only this time he was hard fought by the two Ferraris, with Leclerc just 48mm slower and Saint third.

The second row of the grid was completed with Norris showing an excellent performance with McLaren, while Hamilton and Stroll will start behind them.

Meanwhile, Spielberg’s ranking tests focused on whether riders are pushing the limits of the track. With three straight violations, Sergio Perez was not in the top ten for the third time in the last six races, while in the second qualifying session, Mercedes was disqualified along with Mexico’s George Russell.

This time the sunshine of midday free testing had given way to overcast skies and cooler tarmac temperatures changed the tire warm-up record. Nevertheless, Verstappen was the fastest in all three qualifying sessions, albeit with a narrow lead at the end.

In the drivers’ first attempt in Q3, Leclerc was 0.2 inches behind the Dutchman, but the Monegasque came within 48mm of the champion with a kamikaze lap on his second attempt, who also improved his time by a tenth.

The Ferrari SF-23’s fastest time – driven by Carlos Sainz – in the second leg, where Red Bull was at their best, is another encouraging sign for the Scuderia, who traveled to Styria with new front wing upgrades and on the ground.

If there is no rain over the three days, despite forecasts, Ferrari will have a chance to lap the races again with the excellent tire management it showed at the last Canadian GP – and also: Of course, aiming last year’s Leclerc announced victory at Spielberg’s circuit.

The impressive Lando Norris made the most of the major upgrade of the McLaren MCL60 (an upgrade Oscar Piastri doesn’t have) in this race, managing to outperform Aston Martin and Mercedes – in hopes that the facelifted McLaren would finish on Sunday is just as good under the racing conditions.

In a race where Fernando Alonso appeared to be lacking in his classic form, Lance Stroll managed to beat the Spaniard in qualifying for only the second time this year (although the Canadian missed his first lap in the third quarter by exceeding the track limits exceeded); Nico Hülkenberg and Alex Abon made another breakthrough and made it into the top ten.

In Q2, Verstappen, along with Perez, lost his first lap due to the limitations of the track, as was the case with the Dutchman in Q1. But the Dutchman didn’t repeat the mistake on his second attempts. Along with Perez in the second quarter, Russell, Esteban Ocon, Oscar Piastri and Valtteri Bottas were eliminated.

Russell had a chance for a second lap in Q2 and completed it within the track limits but was not quick enough to break into the top ten – having apparently not found the settings as efficient as Hamilton. Along with Alpine, Ocon lost their place in the top ten by exceeding track limits.

Finally, Q1 was interrupted for a couple of minutes with around 12 minutes to go when Valtteri Bottas lost the rear of his Alfa Romeo on the exit of Turn 1 – and his car swerved facing the track. Nonetheless, the Finn returned to the pits and proceeded to narrowly edge Yuki Tsunoda out of Q2.