Lando Norris stormed to pole position for the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix as his dominant weekend in Spielberg continued.
The McLaren driver had sat out of FP1 but since then he has led the way in every session and was untouchable in a Q3 session that was tempered by a late yellow flag.
Norris’ blistering pace saw him seal pole with the biggest gap of the season to date, his lap of 1m03.971s more than enough to keep Leclerc behind him – although the Ferrari driver will be delighted to have split the McLarens.
Championship leader Oscar Piastri will start third after a spin for the Alpine of Pierre Gasly ruined the final lap of the McLaren driver, as well as the Red Bull of Max Verstappen – who will start seventh having taken pole position for the past four Austrian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton will start fourth for Ferrari with George Russell fifth and Liam Lawson impressing by taking sixth for Racing Bulls.
With Verstappen down in seventh he will start alongside the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto, who followed up his F2 win in Styria last year by putting in his best F1 qualifying performance of his rookie season.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was ninth for Mercedes with Gasly’s untimely spin leaving him 10th.
Marshals extinguish a trackside fire in Q2 during qualifying
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
A red flag in Q2 due to a fire at the side of the final corner, where Hamilton had run wide, meant that all 15 drivers were pushing for fast laps when the session resumed with a little over five minutes remaining.
Bortoleto put in a stunning effort as Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Isack Hadjar, Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman were those unable to produce a time to get through to Q3 and will start 11th-15th, respectively, with Antonelli squeaking through.
Pressure continues to grow on Yuki Tsunoda in the second Red Bull as he was eliminated in Q1 at the team’s home race.
The Japanese driver will start 18th, with the back row taken by Carlos Sainz, the Williams driver knocked out in the first stage of qualifying for the third race in a row, and the experienced Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg.
Tsunoda could consider himself slightly unlucky, he was only 0.250s off the Q1 pace of team-mat Verstappen – but that proved the difference between sixth and 18th, while Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon were also unable to get into Q2.
F1 Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying results
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Mark Mann-Bryans
Formula 1
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