Austrian GP Qualifying: Norris blows them away, Verstappen flops
F1 NewsSaturday, 28 June 2025 at 20:33
Lando Norris took pole for the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix, as he delivered a supreme lap in Q3, blowing the competition away on a day when Max Verstappen simply had no answers to the McLaren man.
Norris, despite missing FP1, was setting the pace since he retook his car from Alex Dunne, and topped all practice sessions ahead of Qualifying.
Most importantly, the Briton kept it together when the all important Q3 runs began and managed to take his 12th career pole position, his third in 2025, over half a second clear from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc who was second fastest in the upgraded SF-25.
Oscar Piastri was third fastest, less than a tenth behind Leclerc. The Aussie was not the faster McLaren driver on the day, but he was closer to Norris than the result showed but he was unlucky with Yellow Flags caused by Pierre Gasly spinning on the final round of laps. Piastri could not start his final lap.
Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest, over six tenths off the pace and 0.181s clear of his former Mercedes teammate, George Russell who was fifth.
Liam Lawson, delivered a strong qualifying for the Racing Bulls and was sixth fastest ahead of Verstappen who was seventh.
While the reigning Formula 1 champion showed he would be in the mix heading into qualifying, he was complaining about lack of grip and was never in contention for a front row let alone pole.
But whenever it it never rains but it pours as Verstappen got unlucky in his final Q3 run when he was improving but had to slow down due to the Gasly-caused Yellow flag.
So seventh was not the best result he could've achieved but pole was definitely far from reach for the Dutchman.
Then came the surprise of the session. Gabriel Bortoleto was impressive all weekend long and went on to deliver on that promise in qualifying, eighth fastest and his first time in Q3.
Kimi Antonelli was ninth fastest in the other Mercedes as Gasly completed the top ten.
What the top three said
After his strong qualifying performance, Norris trumpeted: "It was a good lap, that's for sure.
"My Q3 run one was good but I knew there were a few places where, if I just got it right, I could still get 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. So very happy.
"A good day and it has been a good weekend for me so far, so hopefully we can keep it up," the Briton concluded.
Leclerc was visibly ecstatic after taking second place, and hailed the new parts Ferrari brought to the car this weekend.
He commented: "I'm very pleased. It's been a long time since we started on the front row. It's been a difficult season overall but the team have kept pushing. We've brought some new parts this weekend, which for sure made a difference because the gaps are super close.
"I'm very happy with the lap. It's a good start to the weekend. We know that we have a better car normally in the race than qualifying, so I hope we can put a bit more pressure on McLaren tomorrow," he added.
As for Piastri, he lamented the Yellow Flag towards the end of Q3 which ruined his lap, he said: "It was the fact I didn't get to start it [his final lap], that was the problem I had. Gasly spun at the last corner so I didn't even open my second lap.
"Lando has been very quick all weekend and it would have been a tough challenge," he went on, "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. It's sometimes just not your day," Piastri concluded.
Q1: Tsunoda, Sainz out!
The track temperature rose considerably between the final practice session and qualifying, up to 47 degrees in particular while air temperature was at 27 degrees.
The session was delayed by five minutes due to a delay in the Formula 2 race taking place before qualifying. There was a huge crash which required a long Red Flag period. No one was hurt, thankfully, but that meant Q1 was delayed.
The session started with Albon the first driver out on track followed by Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, and Carlos Sainz. Both Haas and Alpine cars were next.
With the first group setting the times, it was Nico Hulkenberg that went fastest with Esteban Ocon second and Bortoleto third, then it was: Alex Albon - Stroll - Sainz - Gasly - Ollie Bearman
With 13 minutes remaining, the heavy hitters joined the action, both McLarens leading both Ferraris and the Red Bulls while the Mercedes followed soon after.
Verstappen went fastest, but then Norris went even faster while Piastri aborted his firsts attempt after a lockup sent him wide into the gravel.
Leclerc went third but then Hamilton took that place from him while Antonelli went fourth with Isack Hadjar fifth. Russell was seventh with Yuki Tsunoda in eighth as the early runners started their second set of laps.
Six minutes from the end and the order was: Norris - Piastri - Verstappen - Hamilton - Antonelli - Gasly - Hadjar - Leclerc - Russell - Tsunoda - Lawson - Franco Colapinto - Hulkenberg - Ocon - Stroll.
Under risk: Bortoleto - Albon - Bearman - Alonso - Sainz.
Soon after, the final runs commenced, and in the end, Norris led the was with a 1:04.672, 0.294s ahead of Piastri in second and 0.345s clear of Lawson in third.
The other drivers who made Q2 where: Gasly - Hadjar - Verstappen - Hamilton - Bortoleto - Albon - Antonelli - Russell - Leclerc - Alonso - Bearman - Colapinto.
Off to an early shower were led by Stroll who was out by 0.061s after showing promise earlier in the weekend. Esteban Ocon was 17th fastest in the Haas.
The ever-improving Yuki Tsunoda was down in 18th ahead of Carlos Sainz who was 19th labeling his car undriveable.
The Spaniard said: "There is damage in the car. The car is undriveable. When I say undriveable, it's pulling under braking, no load in high speed, undriveable."
Nico Hulkenberg was dead last, the German struggling with his Sauber all weekend long.
Q2: Bortoleto makes it into Q3!
With Q2 given the green light, Leclerc was eager to set a time and was out immediately with Hamilton following suit in the sister Red Car.
Albon followed and when those three did their first Q2 laps, Leclerc was first ahead of Hamilton with Albon third.
Then the other drivers set out of track with the Racing Bulls leading the Alpines, Bortoleto and Bearman with Verstappen following as well as Alonso, both Mercedes drivers and finally the McLarens.
Hadjar went second while Lawson went fastest, both on new Soft tyres. Bearman and Bortoleto went sixth and seventh respectively with Colapinto eighth.
Then Verstappen went to the top on new tyres with Russell third and Antonelli seventh as the McLarens started their runs.
Piastri went fastest by half a second while Norris behind him went even faster, 0.146s in particular.
Leclerc on his second attempt went third with Hamilton fourth with Verstappen dropping to fifth. The Dutchman said his car was undriveable claiming he had no grip regardless of the type of corner.
With a little under six minutes remaining, the session was Red flagged as the grass was on fire at the exit of the final corner. That was caused by Hamilton running wide moments earlier.
The session was restarted after the fire was extinguished but it wasn't until four minutes remaining on the clock that the drivers starting heading out on track for one final attempt to try and make it into Q3.
In the end, Norris remained fastest with a 1:04.410 with Piastri second fastest with Leclerc in third.
The rest of the top ten were: Verstappen - Bortoleto - Gasly - Russell - Hamilton - Lawson - Antonelli.
Alonso was 11th fastest, missing out to Antonelli by 0.076s with Albon 12th in the Williams as Isack Hadjar was 13th.
Colapinto was 14th with Bearman in 15th.
Q3: Verstappen unable to challenge
Q3 was given the go ahead but the drivers patiently remained in their respective garages until less than ten minutes remained on the clock.
Then almost simultaneously, all ten cars exited their garages and lined up in the pitlane waiting for their turn to get out on track.
Piastri was the first to start a timed lap with Norris behind him. The Australian went fastest but then Norris went almost three tenths faster.
Verstappen followed but was only good for third but dropped to fourth as Leclerc split the McLarens in second. Hamilton then dropped Verstappen to fifth claiming fourth place for himself.
Russell then went fifth fastest, relegating Verstappen to sixth with Antonelli in seventh.
After the first run, it was provisional pole for Norris and behind him the order was: Leclerc - Piastri - Hamilton - Russell - Verstappen - Antonelli - Bortoleto - Gasly - Lawson (did not set a time)
Then with almost three minutes remaining, the drivers went out again for the final runs of Q3 and lined up in the pitlane waiting for the car ahead to get out and build a gap before following.
Verstappen was the first to start a timed lap but backed off in the final sector as Russell and Leclerc followed but could not threaten Norris.
Piastri also could not respond and was third fastest ahead of Hamilton in fourth and Russell in fifth with Lawson sixth.
Verstappen was seventh fastest ahead of the superb Bortoleto in eighth as Antonelli and Gasly were ninth and tenth respectively.
There was a brief Yellow flag caused by Gasly spinning which was why Verstappen had to back off. The same applied to Piastri who didn't even start his final Q3 lap.
Austrian GP Qualifying Provisional Classification
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