Max Verstappen was in control to score F1 Austrian GP pole, with Lando Norris in second and George Russell getting third.
Q1:
The first part in F1 Austrian GP qualifying at Red Bull Ring was close after the 20 drivers were covered by just the 0.798s margin where Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz (1m05.263s) led the way from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the Top 3.
Williams’ Alexander Albon (1m05.736s) was knocked out in 16th and he finished only 0.473s behind Sainz in a close gap. He missed out on Q2 by 0.079s from Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, as his teammate Lance Stroll (1m05.819s) was knocked out in 17th.
Stake F1 Team’s Valtteri Bottas (1m05.847s) was 18th with teammate Zhou Guanyu (1m06.061s) 20th behind Williams’ Logan Sargeant (1m05.856s). The stewards, meanwhile, put Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg under investigation for pitlane infringement.
Q2:
The second part in F1 Austrian GP qualifying saw Red Bull’s Verstappen continue his charge with a 1m04.469s lap to be more than half a second ahead of his next challenger Ferrari’s Sainz, with Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in third and fourth.
There was another pitlane moment from Haas of Hulkenberg, this time against Red Bull’s Sergio Perez which was put under investigation. The knockout zone had Visa Cash App RB’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m05.289s) out in Q2 by just the 0.015s margin over Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m05.347s) was out as well in 12th from Alpine’s Pierre Gasly (1m05.359s) after his moment, as Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m05.412s) was 14th and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso (1m05.639s) only 15th.
Q3:
The final part in F1 Austrian GP qualifying saw Verstappen take the top spot provisionally after setting a 1m04.426s lap. It was McLaren’s Lando Norris at a distant with a 0.361s gap in second from the Dutchman, while Mercedes’ Russell was third.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc upped his pace to be fourth with Piastri rounding the Top 5, as Hamilton in sixth was under investigation for pitlane infringement. There was an investigation against Verstappen too for driving slowly at pit exit.
But it didn’t deter him from improving further to set a 1m04.314s lap to take pole in F1 Austrian GP, with Norris (1m04.718s) securing the front row finish. His teammate Piastri was with him in third but his lap was deleted due to track limits to drop to seventh.
This helped Russell (1m04.840s) to be third from Sainz (1m04.851s), with Hamilton (1m04.903s) in fifth ahead of Leclerc (1m05.044s), who went wide in the final corner on his fast lap. As noted, Piastri (1m05.048s) was seventh.
Perez (1m05.202s) ended up only eighth, as the Top 10 was rounded out by Hulkenberg (1m05.385s) and Ocon (1m05.883s).
UPDATE: Hulkenberg was let off in one of the pitlane infringements, while the team was reprimanded for the other. Here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Austrian%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Infringement%20-%20Car%2027%20-%20Pit%20Lane%20incident.pdf
Mercedes has been fined €5,000 for the unsafe release for Hamilton. Here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Austrian%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Infringement%20-%20Car%2044%20-%20Unsafe%20release.pdf
Verstappen was let off for driving slowly exiting the pit stop. Here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Austrian%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Decision%20-%20Car%201%20-%20Alleged%20driving%20unnecessarily%20slowly.pdf
Apart from the above, the FIA has summoned Tsunoda for his comments on the radio when he was passed by Guanyu in the pitlane. He said, ‘these guys are f**king ret**ded’. At the same time, McLaren has protested the qualifying results in respect to Piastri’s lap deletion.
UPDATE 2: The FIA rejected McLaren’s protest even before hearing since the team did not fulfil the criteria of a protest where they did not specified the details of the protest and against whom or under which Article they were protesting against.
The stewards, though, fined Tsunoda of €40,000 of which €20,000 is suspended. The Japanese driver was apologetic about his words which he didn’t know the meaning of at the time of his saying. Considering his apology, the stewards understood the point but levied a suspended fine as it was still breaking the Sporting Code.
Here’s how F1 Austrian GP sprint panned out
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