Verstappen unparalleled in dominant Austrian GP qualifying
Securing pole position, Max Verstappen was in a league of his own during a dominant qualifying session that saw both Australians wounded by slim stopwatch and on-track margins in Austria.
Qualifying 1:
It was a close call between the green light and being ready for qualifying for both sides of the RB garage, with Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo undergoing significant setup changes following feedback from their pace-less Sprint.
Ricciardo’s first flying lap placed him within the top ten times, however, at a distance to his teammate who flew into the top three.
A refreshing change for the #3, Ricciardo remained clear of the elimination zone for the entire 18-minute session, only boosting himself higher in the order after his final attempt.
The changes seemed to work with immediate effect as Ricciardo had a relatively stress-free Q1 session, advancing to the second round in a competitive P9.
It was an average Q1 session for Oscar Piastri, with the Australian starting off his campaign in P3.
Piastri improved to P2 on his second run, and with confidence in that lap time of 1:05.311s, he remained in his garage while the clock ticked down.
As for the rest of the field, the usual Red Bull dominance out of the blocks was missing.
Instead, Ferrari looked to be revitalised after the Sprint, with Charles Leclerc’s time of 1:05.901s forming the early benchmark in Q1.
Carlos Sainz ended the first stage of qualifying in Austria on top, with his time of 1:05.263s the best of his three attempts.
Mercedes, following a different run-plan to the majority of the grid, both soared and struggled in the opening session.
George Russell managed to start his session by securing the fastest time ahead of Leclerc, however, became nervous as the chequered flag approached when his time was repeatedly demoted.
He additionally sat behind Lewis Hamilton who experienced his own mix of emotions in P7.
They scrapped through to the second session, something that couldn’t be said for Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu.
Carlos Sainz topped the timing sheets in the opening session of Qualifying. Image: Mark Sutton / Sutton Images.
Qualifying 2:
Unlike yesterday’s Sprint Qualifying session, Ricciardo managed to delay his trip to the media pen for an additional 15 minutes.
Starting Q2 after a strategically prolonged moment in his garage, the RB driver punched in a time of 1:05.334s, placing him ahead of Tsunoda for the time being.
Ricciardo drifted back into P10, sitting as the driver at risk as the second and final attempts at a place into the top ten shootout unfolded.
Despite setting personal bests in Sectors 1 and 2, his inability to improve in the middle sector cost the #3 greatly and saw him eliminated from the session after setting a 1:05.289s.
What made Ricciardo’s elimination more painful, was the tantalising slim margin standing between him and a place in Q3.
Ricciardo was knocked out by just 15 milliseconds to Esteban Ocon, however, will find comfort in the fact that he out-qualified his teammate by two-tenths.
The qualifying head-to-head battle at RB now sits at 8-3 in Tsunoda’s favour.
Again, it was a relatively simple session for Piastri.
Joining the session at the same time as Ricciardo, the Australian set an opening lap time of 1:05.070s, positioning him in P3 which was also ahead of his teammate.
Not as confident in securing a place in Q3 with that lap time as he was in Q1, Piastri joined the rest of the crew as they exited the pitlane with three minutes to go.
Despite this, he didn’t improve on his time, instead advancing through with his original lap which was six-tenths slower than the benchmark.
Before that narrative played out, however, the Q2 session started with a lonely four drivers circulating the Red Bull Ring.
The Alpine and Ferrari cars were the only ones out on track at the green light, with their peers holding off until the 10-minute mark before accompanying them.
Carrying over his soft tyres from the first session, Sainz set the fastest opening sector on his way to a 1:05.745s, a lap which turned out to be the slowest of the four drivers.
Porpoising seemed to be the cause of his lacking lap, with the Spaniard saying he “picked up a lot of bouncing” on his first attempt.
There was no time to delve into that issue, however, when the remaining drivers left the pitlane.
Verstappen foreshadowed his looming dominance when he flew to the top of the timing sheets with a 1:04.577s, almost a whole second ahead of Leclerc.
Max Verstappen during qualifying at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. Image: Chris Graythen/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.
As for the backend of the order, Kevin Magnussen, Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly and Sainz all found themselves within the elimination zone after their first attempts.
It was a short-lived stay in P15 for Sainz, with the #55 jumping into P2 on his fresh set of soft tyres.
As the drivers pulled back into the pits for one last pause, the elimination zone order had shifted to now include Tsunoda and Hulkenberg, with Alonso cementing his place at the rear of the Q2 field after touching the gravel at both Turn 7 and Turn 10.
Tsunoda wasn’t able to improve on his final attempt, while Hulkenberg just scrapped through to Q3 in P9.
That wasn’t without attention from race control, however, with the Haas driver and his team under investigation for not following race directors’ instructions in the pitlane as he cut the queue.
The drivers knocked out in Q2 were Ricciardo, Magnussen, Gasly, Tsunoda and Alonso.
Qualifying 3:
The final session of Qualifying in Austria was one of highs and lows for Piastri.
The 23-year-old’s solid efforts throughout the entire hour were wasted after he ran wide at Turn 6 and had his final lap time deleted.
This meant that Piastri dropped from a provisional top-three start, all the way back into P7 with his time of 1:05.048s.
He will, however, start the race ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who even with an uninterrupted session qualified in P8.
Oscar Piastri during qualifying at the Austrian GP. Image: Mark Sutton / Sutton Images.
It was Perez’s teammate who took out the coveted pole position achievement for the team’s home race, running at a level well above the rest in Q3.
From the get-go, Verstappen boosted his RB20 to the top of the timing sheets with a time of 1:04.426s, three-tenths ahead of Lando Norris.
His second attempt was over a tenth faster, and with his closest competitor failing to edge towards the Dutchman, Verstappen secured an untouchable pole position.
Lando Norris will start the Austrian Grand Prix alongside the #1, hoping to get the jump on his good mate into Turn 1 after learning from his “amateur” mistakes in today’s Sprint.
Russell was promoted to P3 after Piastri had his lap deleted, seeing the Mercedes driver occupying Row 2 with Carlos Sainz, making it four different teams within the top four starting positions.
Lewis Hamilton will start the 77-lap race from P5, with his 2025 teammate for company.
Leclerc, although not on track to majorly improve, was forced to settle for sixth position after thinking he “broke everything under the car” on a bumpy ride across the gravel and grass at Turn 6 and Turn 9 on his final lap.
A demoted and deflated Piastri will look to recover from P7, with Perez surely hoping to do the same from P8.
Rounding out the top ten were Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon.
With certain drivers out of positions and others looking to put together a dream result at the chequered flag, lights out for the Austrian Grand Prix will take place at 11:00 PM on Sunday (AEST).
Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Austrian Grand Prix Qualifying Results:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:05.336 | 1:04.469 | 1:04.314 | |
| 2 | 1:05.450 | 1:05.103 | 1:04.718 | |
| 3 | 1:05.585 | 1:05.016 | 1:04.840 | |
| 4 | 1:05.263 | 1:05.016 | 1:04.851 | |
| 5 | 1:05.541 | 1:05.053 | 1:04.903 | |
| 6 | 1:05.509 | 1:05.104 | 1:05.044 | |
| 7 | 1:05.311 | 1:05.070 | 1:05.048 | |
| 8 | 1:05.587 | 1:05.144 | 1:05.202 | |
| 9 | 1:05.596 | 1:05.262 | 1:05.385 | |
| 10 | 1:05.574 | 1:05.274 | 1:05.883 | |
| 11 | 1:05.569 | 1:05.289 | ||
| 12 | 1:05.508 | 1:05.347 | ||
| 13 | 1:05.598 | 1:05.359 | ||
| 14 | 1:05.563 | 1:05.412 | ||
| 15 | 1:05.656 | 1:05.639 | ||
| 16 | 1:05.736 | |||
| 17 | 1:05.819 | |||
| 18 | 1:05.847 | |||
| 19 | 1:05.856 | |||
| 20 | 1:06.061 |
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
READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF AUTO ACTION DIGITAL HERE
Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.
Podcast: Let’s talk about Betty Klimenko and the trolls
On this episode of The Autro Action Rev Limiter, Andrew, Bruce, and PG break down the Betty Klimenko interview from the latest edition of Auto Action
Listen to our latest episode on your podcast app of choice or here
