After leading from the front and winning the Sprint race, Max Verstappen secured pole position for the main race of the Austrian GP on Saturday. It continues to be a one-sided weekend for the three-time world champion.
Qualifying summary
The Q1 in Spielberg had a big surprise with the elimination of an Aston Martin, as Lance Stroll finished outside with the 17th fastest time. His teammate, Fernando Alonso, didn’t fare much better: he narrowly avoided being knocked out by just 0.080s, with Alexander Albon (Williams/Mercedes) failing to make it to Q2 in 16th.
Also eliminated were Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber/Ferrari), Logan Sargeant (Williams/Mercedes), and Guanyu Zhou (Kick Sauber/Ferrari), in that order from 18th to 20th.
At the front, the top three were within less than a tenth of a second: Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) was the fastest, 0.048s ahead of Oscar Piastri (McLaren/Mercedes), with Verstappen taking his Red Bull to third position.
Q1 CLASSIFICATION: Look how close the times are?! 🤯
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 29, 2024
Just 0.798s between P1 and P20! #F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/zV0Xp8hF7B
It was after Q2 and, once again, nothing unexpected happened. This time, Verstappen set the pace, with Sainz and George Russell (Mercedes) behind him with equal times… 0.547s behind the Dutchman. A significant difference, considering that the track is small and the best laps are in the 1m05s.
In the battle to avoid elimination, the last one to save himself was Esteban Ocon. The Alpine driver set the tenth time and, despite the improvements of several opponents in the final phase, he was not surpassed. He finished just 15 milliseconds ahead of Daniel Ricciardo (VCARB).
In addition to the Australian, Kevin Magnussen (Haas/Ferrari), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Yuki Tsunoda (VCARB), and Alonso, who in this order finished between 12th and 15th places, fell in this qualifying phase.
Q2 CLASSIFICATION
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 29, 2024
Sainz and Russell set identical times ⏱️⏱️#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/YP4YQ7NpPo
Finally, the battle for pole position in Q3 arrived. Right from his first lap, in 1m04.426s, Verstappen took the lead, with Lando Norris (McLaren/Mercedes) as his main pursuer, setting the best first sector.
In our final attacks on pole position, Verstappen found even more time to gain, lowering the reference to 1m04.314s. Norris was unable to find arguments against his rival, finishing second 0.404s behind.
Russell confirmed Mercedes’ good form with the third fastest time, 0.526s behind, leaving Sainz’s Ferrari behind by 0.011s. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) closed the top five ahead of his future teammate Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
Contrasting with Norris’ second place, Piastri was seventh in the other McLaren, followed by Sergio Pérez in another contrast with his teammate at Red Bull. Nico Hülkenberg (Haas/Ferrari) finished ninth and, unsurprisingly, Ocon completed the top ten fastest.
Results:
