Verstappen thrills home crowd with Sprint Pole ahead of McLaren

Max Verstappen earned himself a front-row start for the Sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix, thrilling Red Bull’s home crowd as he outpaced Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in a do-or-die Sprint Qualifying session.

Sprint Qualifying 1:

It was a quiet start to the opening 12-minute session, with SQ1 ultimately being headlined by Max Verstappen, George Russell and Carlos Sainz.

On their road to the top three, however, the action kicked off with nine minutes on the clock.

Daniel Ricciardo was among the first haul of cars exiting the pitlane, setting off on his opening out-lap on the mandatory medium compound tyre.

The RB driver’s first run rewarded him with a lacking time of 1:06.890s, leaving him slowest of all drivers who had completed their opening attempts. 

Oscar Piastri also set off on his first lap, recording a 1:06.289s that left him in P8 once the grid had settled. 

On track behind Ricciardo, were Lewis Hamilton and Zhou Guanyu, with both drivers having their times deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 6 and Turn 9 respectively.

As for Hamilton’s teammate, George Russell got his SQ1 off to a flying start as he claimed the early benchmark ahead of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris. 

Verstappen was the next driver to cross the line, demoting the entire field as he shot to the top, just 74 milliseconds ahead of Russell with five minutes on the clock.

With a mix of run plans across the board, half the grid remained out on track while the rest took a momentary pause in the pitlane, hoping to avoid the elimination zone that was occupied by Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Ricciardo, Hamilton and Zhou.

Rejoining the session with two minutes remaining, Hamilton was one of the first drivers to set off on his second attempt, encountering traffic throughout his entire lap to finishing in a risky P11.

As the final times rolled in, however, the Mercedes driver was safe.

16th placed qualifier Daniel Ricciardo walks in the Pitlane after Sprint Qualifying in Austria. Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

The same couldn’t be said for Ricciardo unfortunately, with the Australian slipping into the elimination zone by just 24 milliseconds to his teammate.

Ricciardo was almost saved by late yellow flags in Sector 3 after Tsunoda spun off at Turn 10 after dipping a wheel into the Turn 9 gravel trap, however, it wasn’t enough to stop his fast-charging competitors from moving up the order.

Piastri’s second go was quick enough for a P6 finish in SQ1, his confidence being boosted after setting the fastest overall middle sector that was two-tenths quicker than Verstappen.

Joining Ricciardo in an early finish were Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, Alex Albon and Zhou.

Sprint Qualifying 2:

Unlike the opening session, SQ2 saw drivers exiting their garages as soon as the light in the pitlane went green.

Perez had a revitalised start to his lap, setting the fastest opening sector, however, as he crossed the line, it was a significant distance behind Verstappen’s new top time of 1:05.186s.

Soon, both Ferraris and McLarens filled the five-tenth gap between the two RB20s, pushing the Mexican closer to the elimination zone. 

As for the sole remaining Australian, Piastri boosted his McLaren into the top two before Russell related him into P3.

Despite having a two-tenth margin to the top time, Piastri believed that was all he had in his MCL38 on the medium tyre.

The 23-year-old had outpaced both Ferraris who sat nervously in P4 and P5, with Hamilton, Norris and Perez trailing them while almost half the drivers were yet to even set a time.

At the four-minute mark, all drivers were in the pitlane, resetting for their final lap or getting ready to start their first and only attempt at a SQ3 appearance. 

Oscar Piastri tests the limits in the gravel during SQ2 at the Austrian GP. Image: Mark Sutton / Sutton Images.

Piastri made it safely through at the top end of the order, finishing the session in P3, over two-tenths ahead of Norris.

Those drivers were Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso, Logan Sargeant and Yuki Tsunoda.

Unfortunately for Aston Martin, it was a double SQ2 elimination.

Stroll’s final attempt, although nothing spectacular, had all chances of a place in SQ3 taken away after dipping into the gravel at Turn 10.

He will line up from P12 with Alonso, who didn’t make as obvious of an error on his lap, just never quite maximised the 4.3km circuit, close by in P13.

Sargeant didn’t set a lap time in SQ2, thus qualifying in P15 with Tsunoda ahead, while Magnussen missed out by five-hundredths of a second in P11.

Sprint Qualifying 3:

Following the same trend as SQ1, the track remained vacant for the first few minutes of the 8-minute session, with Mercedes being the first team to blink. 

Leaving just one lap to secure a desired place on tomorrow’s Sprint starting grid, all ten drivers left the pitlane with three minutes on the clock, with some being held up as they attempted to build their gaps. 

The Mercedes duo looked strong as they completed their one and only lap, securing short-lived purple sectors.

Their laps ultimately fell flat to their competitors in P4 and P6, with Piastri stealing the fastest opening sector on his road to a top-three start for the Sprint.

His lap time of 1:04.987s places him in P3 behind his teammate and the Sprint poleman Max Verstappen.

Verstappen secured the front grid box start with a time of 1:04.686s, 93 milliseconds ahead of the now-familiar company of Lando Norris in P2.

Pole position qualifier Max Verstappen celebrates in parc ferme after Sprint Qualifying in Austria. Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

The clock wasn’t the only concern for Ferrari when Charles Leclerc’s SF24 lay stationary at the end of the fast lane after his engine switched off.

The Ferrari driver was able to get going again, however, only with 1m 11s remaining and as a result, didn’t make it to the line.

Unable to set a time, Leclerc will be forced to start from P10 for tomorrow’s Sprint.

His teammate did manage to put his name on the board, however, it wasn’t an impressive result by Sainz’s standards.

The Spaniard set a time of 1:05.126s, putting him in the heart of the top ten in P5.

Only making it to the line to start their laps with seconds to spare, Perez, Ocon and Gasly qualified in their track positional order, filing in just ahead of Leclerc for the Sprint grid. 

With four teams proving to be a true podium threat, tomorrow’s Sprint will be an exciting taste of what is to come during Sunday’s 71-lap main event.

Lights out for the Sprint will take place at 8:00 PM (AEST).

Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Sprint Qualifying Results:

2024 Austrian Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday, June 28th

FP1: 20:30-21:30

Saturday, June 29th

Sprint Qualifying: 00:30-01:14

Sprint Race: 20:00-21:30

Sunday, June 30th

Qualifying: 00:00-01:00

Race: 23:00

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