Lando Norris scores his first pole of the season at Red Bull Ring with a time of 1:28.712, the only driver below 1:29.000. His teammate and Force India F1 academy driver Jehan Daruvala sits behind him in second with a 1:29.002, followed by Max Defourny in P3. Will Palmer was the second fastest rookie in P7, less than 3 tenths behind Daruvala.
With only Perullo out during the first half of the session the field faced a challenge in getting some clean air to set a quick lap. Max Defourny led the way early on, before being overtaken by teammate Palmer. Despite both drivers improving their times in their battle at the front, it was Norris who put in a lap of 1:28.818 to bump the pair down the order.
Norris remained in provisional pole with his sub-1:29 time, improving by a tenth to secure his position. Daruvala came close to beating his teammate, but the Brit held on. With drivers from 2nd to 6th all within 2 tenths of each other any improvement would’ve boosted them up the order – however, after starting the on track action, Perullo made an error, finishing in the gravel and heralding a red flag. Given that there was just 1:20 left on the clock, the session did not restart.