The Saturday in F1 Austrian GP was close again but all behind Lando Norris, as certain drivers makes it well in Top 10 in a competitive session.
It was another close Saturday in F1 Austrian GP at Red Bull Ring, but McLaren’s Lando Norris wasn’t catchable. The Q1 session was close, but McLaren upped their pace in Q2 and Q3 to stretch ahead. The Brit ended up on pole by a 0.521s margin albeit his teammate Oscar Piastri didn’t get a lap in.
The Australian was hurt by the yellow flag caused by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. His first lap was still good enough for third unlike Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who ended up seventh after being affected by yellow flag as well. Norris held his own at the front to take a crucial pole after Canada debacle.
He feels good in the car and hopes to pick up a win, while Piastri would want to clear Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at least if not his teammate. The Monegasque put in a good lap after not having a good Friday in terms of Saturday pace. The Ferrari pace was backed by Lewis Hamilton in fourth.
The Brit was upbeat and praised the operational level of the F1 team during the weekend. He is certainly hoping for a podium, but he is not gunning for it as much. The two teams seem to be in a better place than Mercedes and Red Bull, where George Russell was fifth but with not huge amount of confidence.
Teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was hurt in the pitlane when Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto came in his way. He missed the flag and couldn’t do the second quick lap to be ninth. Verstappen, meanwhile, didn’t feel good in the car, as did Yuki Tsunoda, who was out again in a Q1. He was low in the media pen, frustrated by another Q1 exit as he was surprised by the car behaviour on his second push lap.
Norris: “No. I mean, the others were not far behind. Even the Ferraris and Charles was a bit closer. I think all the way through quali, actually, the gap to some of the others was bigger than I was expecting. They were not miles away in FP3. But then as soon as we went out for quali, we seemed like a good step ahead. So, I wasn’t too worried, but there’s this guy here on the left, he’s also pretty quick, and the expectation is for him to go out and put some good laps in too, especially in Q3s normally. So, yeah, I think the pressure was still there, and I still knew there were places to improve. So, again, just try to do Turn 1, 3, 4 correctly and then push it a little bit more in the high speed, and that’s what I did. I think a good amount.
“I’m starting in the best position. But we’ve been good since the first laps I did in FP2. We’ve been competitive, and I’ve been feeling confident and comfortable in the car. We’ve had some upgrades on the car this weekend, which is our first proper set of upgrades for the whole season. So, we’ve waited a good amount of time to apply them, and from what I see today, it looks like it’s definitely moved us in the right direction – especially on a circuit where there’s only eight corners really. So, yeah, I’m confident we can still have a good race tomorrow, but it’s a long one and plenty of things can happen.”
Leclerc: “It’s nice. It’s been a long time. I think this year overall, we’ve been quite weak in qualifying and then pretty strong in the race, but it’s good to be at least this time starting from the front row. At least we have a little bit less road to make before fighting with the guys in front. We’re there. However, obviously, the gap is pretty big to Lando’s lap, which must have been very special for sure. But I don’t know if we’ve got the tools to fight for a victory tomorrow. However, as I said, we are normally very strong on Sunday compared to the qualifying pace, and this gives me hope. As for the updates, it is enough to be P2 because the gaps are very tight around here if you take off Lando. So it definitely helped us. I felt like there were some steps forward. How much, we need to see it in different characteristics of tracks. It’s not only on this track that we’ve got to judge that, but over multiple tracks. However, the numbers that we expected, we had them, which is a good start. That means that we are working in the right direction.”
Piastri: “I think through all of qualifying, I was missing that last tenth, but not getting the chance to do my final Q3 run was quite frustrating. Sometimes those things are going to happen. I was quite happy that I didn’t lose more spots by not doing that. So, third’s still an okay place to start around here. You can race around this track, so try and make some progress. Pretty comfortable. FP1 was a little bit of a messy start, but then I felt pretty good through the rest of practice. And qualifying again felt quite good. It’s very difficult around here to get that perfect lap because there’s a lot of corners that have gravel on the exit, and you’ve got to be pretty careful there. But there’s also a lot of corners that you miss an apex by five centimetres one way or the other, and you’ve lost a couple of tenths easily. So it’s not the easiest track to hook up even though it’s short, and I just kind of felt like I didn’t quite do that today. So, a bit of a shame.”
Hamilton: “Definitely made some progress overnight. I was much happier with the car in FP3, and the direction we went I think has been really positive. And I think edging closer in terms of performance to Charles, who’s really, really used to the car. He hardly ever changes it. And so I think that’s real positive. I think also I had more time in the lap. I was nearly three-tenths up going into Turn 6, and I had a massive snap going in, and then I came across the line 0.06 up. So that would have put me second. So there’s positives in it, for sure. And I think operationally, the team did a really great job. It’s the best qualifying process operationally that we’ve done, I think. No, I mean, jeez, I’ve been in this business for such a long time. You win some, you lose some. I’m grateful that we’re on the second row at least. And usually our race is better, our car is better in the race generally, than it is usually in qualifying. So we’ve improved in qualifying this weekend.
“Let’s hope that we can carry that over into the race. “It feels like that 900-odd days thing with the win. Hopefully it won’t take 900 days. The last few races I’ve said, ‘Yeah, I can’t wait to get that podium’. So I’m not going to say it. I’m just going to put myself towards action, rather than words. I mean, Max isn’t up there [to create dramas (laughs)]. I won’t be bumping into anybody, that’s for sure. The guys, they’ve definitely been able to extract more from the floor this weekend. It was a really small step. First there’s degradation in floors, so a new floor is always a little bit better. And then on top of that, the step of improvement and performance. And so I’m really thankful to the team back at the factory, for the work that put in to bring it. Bit by bit. It’s definitely slow to change. We are making progress, but there are lots of things that need to continue to improve for us to be able to do what we do, like this weekend consistently, weekend in, weekend out. But we’re working on it. I hope we can take this performance through to Silverstone and be in the mix of the fight.
“That would be freaking awesome! I think, for me, I’m continuing to keep my head down, continuing to work away. The fact is, every time I go to the track, it’s a new characteristic of the car at that track. When I started on Friday, I’m like, ‘Shoot, this is so different to what I raced here with last year.’ You’d be just so surprised at the different way you have to set things, and the different way you have to turn the car through corner, but I think I’ve got on top of it to the best of my ability. Ultimately, the last lap wasn’t good enough. But I keep working on it.”
Verstappen: “I think Friday already was not good, one lap, long run wasn’t good. FP3 was little more positive but still off. But then in qualifying, everything felt bad, every corner was a struggle. I just didn’t have the balance; was either understeer or oversteer. Even every single lap that I did, I had a bit of a different behaviour with the car, so yeah, that’s not ideal. The hotter conditions for sure is not good for our car. We didn’t touch the car [after FP3], just very tiny little changes that shouldn’t influence the car balance. I mean that’s all manageable, but suddenly with the higher track temps and more wind, everything just fell apart. Not a lot [of expectations in the race]. The hot conditions don’t help as well, and so far this year we’ve never really been more competitive in the race than qualifying as well, so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow. I don’t want to talk about the upgrades because I think it was not only the upgrade that caused all this. It’s just suddenly, we really took a step back, which is not what you want in qualifying.”
Russell: “I think that was definitely the maximum we could have got. I think the gap to everyone except from Lando was quite understandable. Lando, obviously, did a really amazing job all day today and it was bigger than we thought. We know our strengths, we know our weaknesses and we knew this was never going to be a strong race for us. I think it’s a combination of everything. The track is hot – 50 degrees – the tarmac is pretty abrasive, high-speed corners and it all goes against us. In the same way Canada went for us. We know where we need to improve. It’s no major surprise. It’s always a tough one to swallow every time you come to a weekend knowing you are not going to be on top form. Finishing where we start [probably what I expect in the race]. For the pitlane, I went and then I saw a few drivers pulling out. Then you have a massive blindspot. You can only move your head so much. The mirrors… It’s a massive blindspot. We’ve got to go to the stewards but don’t expect any issues. It’s just part of it.”
Tsunoda: “Not able to adjust properly with the things in the second push. First push felt good, and yeah, the second push. I mean, obviously, there’s always perfect laps. So, you know, there’s something that I could have done better. But, yeah, also, that balance felt completely different between first push and second push. That caught a bit of a surprise. Everywhere, yeah [the struggle and lack of grip]. It is working, I mean in the previous session I had the best qualifying trim, it was working well. I had more confidence, more than any grand prix with potential and everything, but yeah, just not able to somehow put it all together in qualifying. To be honest, it is not all the time…just not able to somehow execute properly in qualifying with the reasons which is really frustrating. I was expecting at least Q3 today. I know this car feels good and, you know, just first push already felt really good as well. So, yeah, just somehow, I guess, with this kind of stage that I’m in, I’m happy with the confidence.
“And I’m sure I’m in the right direction in terms of how I’m approaching it and progress. But still, I think, with this kind of very narrow window car, you just want to have [a] consistent car as much as possible. And, obviously, I guess Max kind of reported the same in Q2, but at least he knows about this car, how to handle it. So, even with that kind of bit of surprise between the runs and everything, he can probably adapt within the lap. But, myself, especially like that kind of difference I felt between that first run and second run, I’m not in the level that I can adjust fully in the lap or maximise it within the package, which I was doing and also I am not even in the level that I was doing in the VCARB. So, I mean, it’s just normal, but every time in qualifying, it’s a bit of frustration. Definitely. I would say difficult car but at the same time it’s not like undriveable but at same time, it’s a small window.
“I don’t have to [start from pitlane], or we’ll have to see strategy-wise. If it’s better, maybe we’ll take it, but… This issue in the car, the thing is… Yeah, so… Really frustrating and just that thing. I’m really tired of starting with a P18 or P19, whatever. There’s positive, like I said, the pace was good more than ever. Understanding about the car as well, but just… Long run is a different scenario, always the dirty air, whatever car you have. It’s still difficult, so let’s see what we can do. I’ll try my best to score points.”
The Top 10 featured Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson and Bortoleto. In fact, the Kiwi was the best Red Bull driver in sixth after finally getting everything together. He doesn’t think it as a revenge on the senior F1 team or Verstappen, as his focus will be cars on his pace than others.
Teammate Isack Hadjar had too much understeer to be knocked out in Q2 but was happy for Lawson to make it. It was similar for Sauber where Bortoleto was finally in the Top 10 and in the fight for his first F1 points if he manages to hang on. Teammate Nico Hulkenberg made a mistake to be out in Q1.
Alpine’s Gasly was satisfied to make it inside the Top 10 after not looking good in practice. He was disappointed with the spin which didn’t give him a chance to be higher up. Teammate Franco Colapinto made it inside Q2, but didn’t have confidence to push further on his quick lap.
Even though Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso did not make it in Q3, the Spaniard was pleased ending up 11th after not looking good in practice. It was opposite for Lance Stroll, who had good practice but was knocked out in Q1 due to weather change, which upset his performance.
Williams’ Alexander Albon was 12th despite the floor damage. He was satisfied with Q2 finish after wind and soft tyre struggles, but teammate Carlos Sainz not only had floor damage himself, but his brakes was not working well as well, to be knocked out in Q1 in a disappointing run.
The Haas pair ended up in no mans land as neither Oliver Bearman nor Esteban Ocon had enough pace. The Brit did make it in Q2, but had nothing more, while the Frenchman was knocked out in Q1 itself. They hope that they can recover places like they have done in the past few F1 races.
Lawson: “Carry a bit more speed, it obviously is a high speed track but no, it is such small things at the moment and I am obviously working super hard, the team’s doing a really-really good job to keep chasing it, we can’t afford to miss anything honestly, because everybody else is making incremental gains. We made a little step from FP3 and put everything together and do it consistently through the session was a good feeling, and I am just stoked for the team honestly. It has been quite a few races of strong pace and practice potential, and then it hasn’t come together in qualifying. Confidence….it is hard, the strategy is not clear, I don’t think.
“We did a long run in practice but in the race we are parked behind cars in the middle of the field and its very-very different, so it is going to be a tough race. It’s not revenge [against Verstappen], I haven’t really raced him at all, but it is a good position. We maximised today, but I don’t expect to be racing him tomorrow and some of the guys around us, but some of the guys behind, we will try that. It is not bad feeling [to be quickest Red Bull car]. The feeling for me is just more proud of the team for a lot of hardwork recently and lot of work around my side to make me more comfortable in the car and help things suit me. I think in qualifying we showed it.”
Bortoleto: “I feel like the track is very special for me. I’m getting more and more experienced with the car and the team and the series. It’s just the beginning. It’s not even half of this season for me. I’ve been working very hard and understanding what I need from my side, from the car, and I feel like I’m getting more and more comfortable with it and that I know what I need before even the weekend starts. I feel like it’s the first weekend that I’m that comfortable since FP1. It feels like things are clicking for me and I’m going in the right direction. I feel like I’m getting more confident with the car. Not only from the upgrades, but also myself and [the] understanding. At the beginning of the season, when you jump in the car, it’s basically a different feeling. It’s like every single FP1, you don’t know how the car is going to behave, but then when you get used to the car more and more, you start putting it in the limits earlier in the weekend and you work more on yourself on the driving, on the set up.
“And I feel like we have been going in this direction this week. It [the grid position] doesn’t change so much. My approach for the start, I’m going to try to do the best start possible [and] gain some positions. If I cannot gain, I’m going to try to keep there and try to make the best race pace I can to score points tomorrow. Obviously it makes no sense in fighting with people you cannot stay ahead of. But for sure I’m a racer, I’m going to try to gain the positions early in the race and see what happens. But I’m not going to be focusing on overtaking people that I know that probably have better pace than me like Verstappen because it will probably just destroy your tyres. Just focusing on people we actually we can.”
Sainz: “Yeah, we must have picked up damage on the floor, which they just confirmed to me that we did. I don’t know exactly where, because it’s not like I went off the track, but something must have fallen off and we lost a lot of downforce. But on top of that, we had a brake issue from the beginning of quali, pulling massively and the braking to one side. With the three big braking zones here, I was always going to struggle with that. Given where Alex was and we’d been on par all weekend, I think Q2 was definitely possible. Q3 was more of an ask, given our soft tyre struggles. But Q2 should have been easy, top end of Q2. Since yesterday, we’ve seen we have the race pace of the midfield, but for some reason, in our soft tyres, we always struggle. Yeah, with the brakes, yes. With the floor, it was not clear at the beginning, but then the last couple of laps, there was for sure something, as you could see on the onboard.
“We changed the brakes from FP3 to quali, like we always do. And we put what we think is a new set, but something must have not been correct, given the amount of pulling that I had to one side every time I hit the brakes. So, yes, we need to investigate what. The floor, I think, must have happened during quali at some point. Must have something fallen off or dropped something. We’ll see. I am not here to test. I am not here to be P19 for sure, so we need to start investigating what’s going on. But at the same time, you know, this, how do you say, this bad run of races is happening, and we need as a team to push together and see what we can do better as a whole. Yeah, especially when it comes to qualifying and the soft tyre, because honestly, my race pace is good. Every time I’m driving under normal circumstances, I’m quick. But yeah, just putting things together.”
Gasly: “While I am pleased to be in Q3, I am not too happy with my mistake at the final corner when I was on a decent lap. I was pushing the absolute limit, too much in the end, and had the spin, fortunately avoiding any damage. Up until then, I was really pushing the car a lot in Q1 and Q2 to put ourselves in contention for the top ten. It is fine margins sometimes and the positive is that clearly the performance and potential was there in the car today. We worked hard to find those improvements after Practice and we need to take these learnings forward at every race. Tomorrow, we start in tenth place and we need a good start and see what we can do from there. It is exciting that we are in the mix, better than we anticipated, and now we need to aim to stay there and score some points.”
Alonso: “I am quite happy with P11 today. We were very close to making Q3 and it gives us a good opportunity to score points tomorrow. It has been a tricky few sessions here so far and I haven’t been completely comfortable behind the wheel. Tomorrow will be a tough race for everyone, especially with the hot conditions, so we will need to be clever and flexible with our strategy. If we get everything right, there is definitely a chance to move forward and fight for some points.”
Bearman: “In Q1 the feeling was much better, despite not having the best lap from my side, we still managed to get through. In Q2, I definitely felt more dialed in but the wind seemed to pick up and I think we struggled a bit more compared to others with those conditions. We have two new sets of hard tires for tomorrow, which lots of others don’t have, and although we lost a set of softs in quali and expected to have a difficult session, I’m glad to be where we are. I think we could’ve been a few more positions up, but I’m optimistic about the race tomorrow.”
Here’s how F1 Austrian GP qualifying panned out
