Lando Norris secured pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix, finishing over half a second ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, who qualified third, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who qualified seventh, were unable to complete final flying laps due to a late spin by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
At the beginning of Q1, Verstappen was the first of the leading competitors on track, ahead of the two McLaren drivers. He initially set the fastest time with a lap of 1:05.106. However, a mistake at Turn 4 resulted in a loss of time, allowing Norris to take the top position by more than four tenths of a second. Piastri also encountered an error at Turn 4; after aborting his initial lap and completing a cool-down lap, his second attempt placed him second on the timing sheet, just one tenth ahead of Verstappen.
“It was a good lap, that’s for sure. I guess just little bit by little bit. I feel even like my Q3 run one was good, but I knew there’s a few places where if I just got it right, I could get still quite a bit more time,” Norris said. “And I did exactly that. So, I did what I planned to do. And when I plan to do something and it goes right, it normally goes very, very well. So yeah, very happy. A good day. It’s been a good weekend for me so far, so hopefully we can keep it up.”
The track evolution was beginning to influence performance, and with just under five minutes remaining, Williams’ Alex Albon registered a purple middle sector, moving up to fourth place with a time of 1:05.143. Faster lap times followed, with Liam Lawson making significant gains, advancing to third position ahead of Gasly and his Racing Bull teammate Isack Hadjar. Max Verstappen chose to withdraw from his final lap and completed it in P6, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton positioned ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto of the Kick Sauber team.
Earlier in the session, Lance Stroll of Aston Martin did not secure a position and finished in P16, ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon. Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated in P18, marking the fourth occasion in five races that he has qualified in the lower three positions. Additionally, Red Bull’s driver was followed by Williams’ Carlos Sainz, who reported a potential issue with his vehicle, and Nico Hülkenberg of Sauber.
“I think it was Monaco the last time we started on the front row, and it’s been a difficult season overall, but the team have kept pushing. We brought some new parts this weekend, which for sure made a difference because if you look at the gaps, everybody’s super close,” Leclerc said. “So, it’s also thanks to the team, but I’m very happy with the lap. Overall, yeah, it’s a good start to the weekend. We know that we have a better car normally in the race than we do in qualifying, so I hope that we can put a bit more pressure on McLaren tomorrow.”
At the beginning of Q2, the Racing Bulls demonstrated strong pace, with Lawson initially securing P1 with a time of 1:05.248, and Hadjar placing P3 behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Subsequently, Norris advanced to the top position with a time of 1:04.41, followed closely by Piastri in second, just over a tenth behind, and ahead of Leclerc and Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton, who moved into fourth, surpassing Hadjar. Verstappen’s initial time of 1:05.103 was only sufficient for fifth place, as he expressed concerns that the grip from his RB21 was “even worse than before.
As the initial runs concluded, a red flag was issued due to a grass fire that occurred at the beginning of the start/finish straight.
When the session resumed, the final runs yielded varied results. Verstappen improved by three-tenths, moving into third place behind Norris and Piastri, who both encountered errors during their final attempts. Additionally, Leclerc made significant gains, surpassing Verstappen by a tenth and securing his position ahead.
Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber delivered an impressive performance by advancing to P5, securing his first Q3 appearance. Pierre Gasly also posted a strong lap, qualifying sixth, ahead of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Jack Lawson elected to withdraw from his final lap but nonetheless advanced to P9, finishing ahead of Andrea Antonelli. Unfortunately, Isack Hadjar did not experience the same success; a driving error caused him to abort his final attempt, resulting in a P13 finish behind Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Haas’ Ollie Bearman, but ahead of the P11 Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and Williams’ Alex Albon.
“It was the fact I didn’t get to start it. That was the problem. I had Gasly spin at the last corner, so I didn’t even open my second lap,” Piastri said. “And Lando’s been very quick all weekend, so it would have been a tough challenge, but I think we easily had enough pace in the car this weekend to be on the front row. So always a shame when you don’t even get the chance, but we can still have a good race from there. Sometimes it’s just not your day.”
At the beginning of the top-10 qualifying session, Norris demonstrated commanding pace, securing provisional pole position with a lap time of 1:04.268. Piastri encountered a minor mistake during his run, enabling Leclerc to move into second place, just over five hundredths of a second ahead of the Australian, who was approximately two tenths behind the top spot. In the standings behind the top three, Hamilton qualified fourth, followed by Russell and Verstappen, the latter on used tires.
Red Bull’s decision to conserve his only set of fresh Softs for the final lap ultimately proved costly when Gasly spun dramatically at the final corner. Piastri was the first to arrive on the scene, and the double waved yellows interrupted his final attempt. Verstappen then approached, and although the track was restored to green, DRS remained disabled, forcing the Dutch driver to abort his final run. The lost opportunity resulted in Hamilton, Russell, and Lawson overtaking Verstappen, who ultimately finished in a disappointing seventh place, ahead of Bortoleto, Antonelli, and the unfortunate Gasly.
Norris, demonstrating strong performance, completed his final flying lap with an improved time of 1:03.971, securing a position ahead of Leclerc by 0.521 seconds. Piastri maintained his third-place position.
2025 FIA Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:03.971 – –
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:04.492 0.521
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:04.554 0.583
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:04.582 0.611
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:04.763 0.792
6 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:04.926 0.955
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:04.929 0.958
8 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:05.132 1.161
9 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:05.276 1.305
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:05.649 1.678
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:05.128 1.157
12 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:05.205 1.234
13 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:05.226 1.255
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:05.288 1.317
15 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:05.312 1.341
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:05.329 1.358
17 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:05.364 1.393
18 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:05.369 1.398
19 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:05.582 1.611
20 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:05.606 1.635
Photo/LandoNorris/X
