Norris storms to impressive pole position in Austria ahead of Leclerc and Piastri with Verstappen P7

Lando Norris has sealed a commanding pole position in Qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix, the McLaren driver recording a time that was half a second clear of nearest challenger Charles Leclerc to mark the biggest pole margin of the season so far.

After setting the pace in Q1 and Q2, Norris continued that theme by claiming provisional pole during the initial runs of Q3 – but the McLaren man went even better on his next effort, pumping in a 1m 03.971s.

Leclerc had a solid session in P2 for Ferrari, despite being 0.521s adrift of Norris, while Oscar Piastri was amongst those affected by a brief yellow flag in the final moments of the session following a spin for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, meaning that the McLaren racer missed out on setting a closing effort and had to settle for P3.

Lewis Hamilton slotted into fourth for the Scuderia, while Canadian Grand Prix winner George Russell was fifth in the Mercedes. Liam Lawson was an impressive sixth at the wheel of the Racing Bulls machine, meaning that he will start ahead of Max Verstappen in seventh, the Red Bull driver having also been hindered by that late yellow flag.

Gabriel Bortoleto shone during Qualifying, the Kick Sauber rookie securing P8 on the grid, with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and the aforementioned Gasly completing the top 10 at the Red Bull Ring.

While Bortoleto caught the eye by making it to Q3 for the first time, Fernando Alonso – the man at the helm of the Brazilian’s management team – missed out after exiting in P11 for Aston Martin, with Alex Albon following in P12 on a tough day for Williams.

Isack Hadjar took 13th for Racing Bulls, having abandoned his final flying lap in Q2, while Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Haas’ Ollie Bearman were 14th and 15th respectively.

The headline exit from Q1 was that of Carlos Sainz, the Williams driver finding himself eliminated in P19 before going on to report possible damage to his car over the team radio.

Also eliminated in the first segment of Qualifying were Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (P16), Esteban Ocon for Haas (P17), the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda (P18) and Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg bringing up the rear in P20.

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Norris quickest as Sainz exits

After three busy practice sessions, the attentions of the paddock shifted to Saturday’s Qualifying at the Red Bull Ring. With Norris setting the pace in FP2 and FP3, could McLaren continue that run of form to take pole position?

Following a short delay to the session getting underway after a red flag in the earlier Formula 2 Sprint Race, Albon led a queue of cars out when the green light appeared for Q1 amid increasingly hot conditions in Spielberg, with everybody running the C5 soft tyres for their first runs.

As Norris put himself at the top of the timesheets during the initial laps – setting a 1m 04.672s to go four-tenths clear of Verstappen – Piastri had a moment at Turn 4 on his opening flying lap, the Australian running through the gravel en route.

Having put a smoother effort in on his next attempt, Piastri then slotted into P2, his time three-tenths away from Norris’. At the other end of the timesheets, the drivers lingering in the elimination zone with a few minutes remaining were Bortoleto, Albon, Bearman, Alonso – who also had a wobble on his lap – and Sainz.

Bortoleto caught the eye by hauling himself up to fifth, while team mate Hulkenberg had found himself pushed into the danger zone. Albon also put in an impressive improvement to displace Bortoleto in P5, while Sainz remained on the bubble after kicking up some gravel on his outing.

This meant that both Haas cars and Stroll had fallen into the bottom five – along with Hulkenberg and Alonso – amid a frantic closing few minutes of Q1. Up ahead, Lawson surged up to P3 to slot between Piastri and Verstappen, just as Ocon also moved up to P13.

Bearman surged up into the top 10, with Alonso and Stroll then bettering their times to initially escape danger. Ocon was pushed back down as a result, as were Tsunoda, Sainz and Hulkenberg, while Russell faced a nerve-wracking moment after a mistake on his lap put him at risk of an early exit.

The Briton managed to climb up to 11th – but others were not so lucky in an incredibly tight session, including Sainz who found himself down in a disappointing 19th at the chequered flag reporting damage. Also eliminated were Stroll (16th), Ocon (17th), Tsunoda (18th) and Hulkenberg (20th).

Knocked out: Stroll, Ocon, Tsunoda, Sainz, Hulkenberg

Q2 – Advantage Norris again while Bortoleto impresses

The Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton were early out on track as 15 minutes went on the clock for Q2, joined by Albon in an initially quiet start to the segment before others began to filter out onto the circuit a few minutes later.

Lawson continued his notable Q1 performance by briefly going fastest in the opening runs, but it did not take long for Verstappen to displace him at the top – who was then usurped by Piastri and then Norris, the Briton beating his team mate by 0.146s on a 1m 04.410s.

While Leclerc and Hamilton then slotted in behind Piastri, Verstappen reported poor grip at the wheel of the RB21, the Dutchman stating over the radio: “The car is completely undriveable.” With just over five minutes remaining, a red flag was then thrown owing to a small trackside fire.

As the session resumed, the drivers at risk were Albon – who was three-tenths off Gasly in P10 – Bearman, Alonso, Bortoleto and Colapinto. Could anybody climb into the top 10 shootout during the final moments?

Bortoleto shone again by shooting up to third during a busy finale to Q2 – marking his first progression to Q3 – before Verstappen pushed him down to fourth, while Leclerc then took third from the World Champion. Gasly also caught the eye by improving to sixth to slot in ahead of Russell.

And while Norris reigned supreme on his earlier benchmark, Alonso found himself pushed out of the session in P11, while Albon became the second Williams to miss out on the top 10 in P12. Behind him, Hadjar ended up in P13, with Colapinto in P14 and Bearman in P15.

Knocked out: Alonso, Albon, Hadjar, Colapinto, Bearman

Q3 – Pole position for Norris while yellow flag causes drama

Following an initially quiet start to Q3, the drivers soon started to make their way out onto the track for the all-important top-10 shootout. There looked to be a close call in the pit lane at Mercedes, with Russell seemingly released into the path of other cars in the queue in an incident that was noted by the stewards.

As the first laps went on the board, it was again Norris who had gone fastest, the Briton pumping in a 1m 04.268s to go over two-tenths clear of team mate Piastri.

Leclerc then separated the McLaren pair in P2, with the other Ferrari of Hamilton in P4 as Russell completed the top five. Verstappen, Antonelli, Bortoleto and Gasly followed, with Lawson opting not to set a banker lap.

Entering into the final minutes, tensions increased as the battle for pole position was on – could Norris hold on to claim the 12th P1 grid slot of his career? The Briton’s chances certainly looked strong when he went even quicker on a 1m 03.971s.

There was drama for some of those trying to challenge Norris when a yellow flag was briefly thrown following a spin for Gasly at the final corner, meaning that the likes of Piastri and Verstappen had to bail out of their final efforts.

When everything had shaken out, Norris remained on top by 0.521s from closest challenger Leclerc – marking the biggest pole margin of the season to date – while Piastri had to settle for third, having been unable to start his last flying lap owing to that yellow flag.

Hamilton completed a decent day for Ferrari in fourth, with Russell following in fifth ahead of Lawson in sixth, an impressive performance from the Racing Bulls driver. Verstappen took seventh – having also had to abandon out of his closing run – with Bortoleto, Antonelli and Gasly rounding out the top 10.

Key quote

"It was a good lap, that’s for sure," said Norris. "I guess just little bit by little bit. I feel even like my Q3 run one was good, but I knew there were a few places where if I just got it right I could get still quite a bit more time – and I did exactly that. I did what I planned to do, and when I plan to do something and it goes right, it normally goes very, very well. I’m very happy, a good day, and it’s been a good weekend for me so far, so hopefully we can keep it up."

What's next

The 2025 Austrian Grand Prix is set to begin at 1500 local time on Sunday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can catch the action from the Red Bull Ring.