McLaren
Norris topped FP3 on Saturday, and then continued his fine form by topping Q1 and Q2 as well. That left just pole to go, and he grabbed that in style too – fastest on both runs in Q3, and winding up top by over half a second. That time might have flattered him slightly, as a few drivers – his team mate included – did not get their second laps in during Q3 due to yellow flags. But Piastri admitted that even if he had got that lap in, he likely did not have the pace to challenge his team mate today.
Oscar Piastri, 3rd, 1:04.554
“A frustrating end to what was otherwise a positive session. Gasly spun in front of me at the last corner and brought out the Yellow Flags, which meant I didn’t get to open my second lap in Q3. I think we easily had the pace to be on the front row, especially as Lando was so quick, but we can have a good race from P3. I think there will be opportunities tomorrow and I’m not planning on finishing third.”
Lando Norris, 1st, 1:03.971
“I’m really pleased with that. My first lap in Q3 was good, but I knew there were still a few places where I could find a little bit more, and that’s exactly what I did. It’s been a good weekend for me so far, the performance throughout the sessions has been great, and hopefully we can keep it up. It's a long race tomorrow but I am looking forward to it.”
Andrea Stella, Team Principal
"Overall, a very positive Qualifying result this afternoon in Austria. We are encouraged by the performance of the MCL39 on a circuit we know we are able to extract its capabilities, and to see our upgrade package performing well thanks to the work of the team here, and back in Woking.
“Lando showed the incredible speed he has throughout the session to secure a dominant Pole position with a very impressive lap. It’s a shame that we were unable to witness Oscar express his speed and contend for Pole on his final lap due to the Yellow Flag obstructing him from getting a clean attempt.
“We now turn our focus to tomorrow’s race where we are in contention to challenge for strong Championship points with both drivers. We’re looking forward to another exciting Austrian Grand Prix."
Ferrari
Ferrari improved hugely overnight, with both drivers seemingly much happier with the set-up of their car on Saturday. Leclerc did spin in FP3, but apart from that it looked smooth sailing for Ferrari as they got both drivers through Q1 and Q2 using just the one set of tyres in each segment. That left them two goes on fresh rubber in Q3, with Leclerc doing a sterling job to split the two Mclaren cars, while Hamilton bagged his joint-best Qualifying of the season with fourth after being unable to complete his last run thanks to yellow flags.
Charles Leclerc, 2nd, 1:04.492
"I’m pleased with today’s result. The whole team has been pushing and we brought some upgrades here, so this result is also thanks to everyone’s collective effort.
"Congratulations to Lando (Norris) for his lap, he deserves it. It has been a while since we started on the front row, so hopefully, we can use the pace we have in race trim to put some pressure on the McLaren ahead of us."
Lewis Hamilton, 4th, 1:04.582
"The car felt much better today after the changes we made overnight. We’ve done a really good job as a team to improve the package, so a big thank you to everyone at the track and back at the factory for their continued hard work. Our pace was encouraging yesterday, and with the step forward we’ve made today, I’m feeling positive about what’s possible tomorrow."
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal
"Qualifying went well for us, everything went smoothly. Right from FP3 and then from the beginning of Q1 we were on the pace and were able to put a good lap on the board. That is very important, because if you don’t get a good first lap in the first part, you have to use another set of tyres and that puts you on the back foot for the rest of your qualifying. We did the same in Q2, so we arrived in Q3 with two sets of new Softs. As I said before, the key is to have a clean weekend. It’s true that our upgrade helped today, even if it should be measured in hundredths of a second rather than tenths, but I believe it’s more about our execution. Still, Lando was on another planet today.
"As for the race, we always knew it would get much hotter on Sunday, which means the race will be all about tyre management. On the other hand, you can overtake here so you don’t have to be too worried about when to make your pit stops, as it is possible to gain back position. Yesterday, our long stint pace was good, so tomorrow, with DRS being very effective here it will be important to be able to use it well."
Mercedes
As the temperatures heated up on Saturday, Mercedes began to struggle. Russell only just escaped Q1, needing a last gasp effort to make it through. Antonelli was then fortunate to make it into Q2. They had to run used tyres on their opening laps in Q3, and then Russell managed to bag P5 on his second run – which he thought was a fair reflection of where the car is this weekend. Antonelli was held up by Bortoleto in the pits and came out late for his last run, and then had to yield to faster cars coming through and yellow flags, those factors combining to leave him short of the line and missing the opportunity to run again.
George Russell, 5th, 1:04.763
"We knew this track was going to be a challenging one for us. We know our strengths and weaknesses and with a circuit that features high-speed corners and an abrasive tarmac like here, it was always going to be tough to put together a good single lap. P5 is probably the maximum we could have done today in these conditions.
"The gap between Lando (Norris) and us is not really surprising. The McLarens have been doing a great job so far and I don’t think we will be able to challenge them tomorrow. However, I think we do have a chance to fight with both Ferraris ahead and this is what we will be aiming for. Let’s see what we can do but fingers crossed we are in the battle for the podium."
Kimi Antonelli, 9th, 1:05.276
"I am really disappointed in how things went in Qualifying today. The potential was there and I was improving lap after lap. Not being able to complete my last single lap is therefore a real shame. I know I had the potential to fight for the top five, similarly to George, so this is one that got away from us. Traffic is always a challenge around such a short circuit but nevertheless, it is frustrating not to get the chance to show what we could do.
"I am positive going into tomorrow's race though. The overall balance of the car is good and the learnings I made throughout the weekend have helped me improve massively. Tomorrow is going to be challenging with high track temperatures and tyre management won’t be easy, but I do feel confident we can make up positions."
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
"The car that we had today was not quite on the pace at the front. That left us in a battle for the positions behind; P5 and P9 is not something we aspire to but is likely where we expected to be after FP3.
"Kimi was very unlucky today. After being squeezed by Gabriel (Bortoleto) in the pitlane, he lost a lot of time queuing and was not able to complete his last single lap. It is really a shame because he showed improvements throughout the weekend, and he could have aimed for a better start position. For George, he likely maximised the car and that left us P5.
"Tomorrow will be a long Grand Prix, and we know that this event biases towards race pace. Hopefully we have a better race car than a qualifying car and both George and Kimi can be focused on gaining positions ahead."
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
"Today was not our strongest day and we are disappointed with the outcome. Kimi missing the flag at the end of the final session is a real shame and putting him in this position is not what the team wanted. He finished today’s qualifying P9 as he was not able to set a time on his final new set of Soft tyres. There was definitely more than that in there for him.
"Getting through to Q3 was tight for both drivers and that left us with only one set of new soft tyres to set a good single lap. George had a reasonably clean run through and P5 looks like the maximum position we could have hoped for.
"We've got some work to do to understand why we are struggling on the single lap, but our focus now needs to shift to the race tomorrow. Race day looks to be hotter than what we experienced in the last two days and managing the tyres will be challenging. However, we had a reasonable pace on Friday so hopefully both George and Kimi can fight with those ahead."
Racing Bulls
It was a slightly mixed bag at Racing Bulls. They looked to have the pace for Q3 with both cars, but Hadjar was forced to abandon his last lap in Q2. Lawson did make it to the top 10 shootout and opted to run just the once. He managed to get his lap in just as the yellow flags cleared, and bagged sixth on the grid – ahead of both Red Bulls. That is his best Qualifying result of the season, and sets him up nicely for a tilt at some points tomorrow.
Isack Hadjar, 13th, 1:05.226
"It was a disappointing Saturday. Yesterday we were not in a good position, but overnight, we turned things around thanks to some right changes to the car setup. They paid off in Q1 and I felt another Q3 was possible. Sadly though, during my lap in Q2 I had a different feeling with the car; I just had understeer in high-speed and I felt like the tyres were not ready for Turn 1. It’s a shame because my Q1 lap could have been good enough for Q3. I don’t know what happened and how we could have gone backwards from there, as we nailed the traffic and usually we make progress besides being very consistent in tyre warm-up. We’ll review everything with the team tonight, but looking at tomorrow, we’re not really far off and as positives we have new tyres left, so with a good strategy I think we can aim for points.”
Liam Lawson, 6th, 1:04.926
"I’m really pleased to have made it through to Q3, it’s a great result and I’m very happy with how everything came together. I’ve never seen such a close Qualifying before, so it’s nice to be on the right side of it this time. We’ve had the pace over the last few races, but today it finally clicked and we managed to put it all together. The Team has done a fantastic job, especially everyone on my side of the garage who’ve been working incredibly hard. Tomorrow is when it really counts. It’s going to be a tough race with the field so tightly packed, and we’ll do our best to keep the competition behind us. The strategy remains quite open, we will work hard over night to put the plan together. My focus will be on getting a clean start and making the right decisions in the car.”
Tim Goss, Chief Technical Officer
“A really good day for VCARB today in Austria. Following the Friday practice sessions we knew that the car was competitive, but at the same time, the lap times were so close we would need a little more to maximise our qualifying position. The setup was evolved overnight to reduce some of the high speed understeer in T7 and T10 whilst ensuring we didn't affect the low speed detrimentally. We also changed to our new specification rear wing with a slightly higher downforce level and efficiency. Practice 3 gave us the confidence the changes had worked and this proved to be the case as both drivers progressed comfortably through Q1. Unfortunately the car felt less consistent for Isack in Q2 and we didn't manage to get the expected improvement from Q1 to Q2 track evolution that would have taken him through into Q3. We are currently looking into the reasons why. Liam's day however just went better and better as he progressed into Q3, ultimately delivering his best qualifying position of the season in sixth place. Congratulations to Liam. We look forward to an exciting race tomorrow.”
Red Bull
Both Verstappen and Tsunoda spun late on in FP3, the Red Bull proving a bit of a handful out there. That proved the case in Q1 for Tsunoda, who could not extract enough pace and exited at the first time of asking for the third time in the last five race weekends. Verstappen made it to Q3, but used plenty of tyres in doing so – and thus had to set his first lap time on used rubber. It was only enough for P7 but worse was to follow, as he had to abort his second effort due to yellow flags. Seventh is not what he was chasing at his team’s home race.
Max Verstappen, 7th, 1:04.929
“So far this weekend it has not been the easiest, FP3 earlier today was more positive than qualifying but we were still off the pace and the hotter weather conditions didn’t help. Our balance was off and there isn’t much that you can do about it once you feel it out on track, that was similar to the situation with our grip, it was difficult to know whether to push the car or not. Pierre spun out which caused a yellow flag and that certainly didn’t help us as I had to abort the lap. Even if I had completed it, it still would have only put me around P3 or P4 which would still have been five or six tenths off pole. I don’t think that it will be easy out there tomorrow but we will analyse everything post quali to give us the best chance in the race tomorrow.”
Yuki Tsunoda, 18th, 1:05.369
“I am feeling bad, especially because the pace has been good throughout the week and then it was about putting it all together today. So, it is really frustrating that Qualifying has not gone the way I wanted. I am tired of it not going the way we want. We need to be able to put it all together and there was too much difference from lap one to lap two. I struggled with the balance quite a lot, it felt very different from my first push to my second. Something happened between those runs and we need to figure out what was different about the car, it could have been to do with a flap adjustment between the runs. I know there is something good to come from us, the first push actually felt pretty good, and it had consistently felt good with the car but I didn’t have that comfortable feeling in the car when it counted, on the last push. The gap to Max was small in Q1 and especially in these tight qualifying sessions we need to work to get the car in a more consistent window, that feels more reliable lap to lap. Tomorrow will be difficult, but I will do my best to make it up."
Christian Horner, Team Principal
"Tough and unlucky quali for Max. Gasly spun and Max reacted to the yellow which was the right thing to do but it’s a great shame. That lap was going to be a 4.4 which could have put Max in 3rd or 4th. Yuki had a good first run in Q1 and was strong, he was in the top 10 and lookIng reasonably competitive. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find it and with such fine margins for Q2, he couldn’t make it. But this track can throw anything at you, you have to survive turns 1&3 and of course we have seen safety cars play a role here in the past. It’s frustrating for today but there is plenty of opportunity to bounce back tomorrow.”
Kick Sauber
Bortoleto looked quick yesterday, and he continued that form on Saturday in Austria. Hulkenberg had matched him in FP3, but the German couldn’t hook up a lap in Qualifying at all and exited in P20. Bortoleto, however, made it all the way to Q3 for the first time in his career, and grabbed a brilliant eighth on the grid. It was a very impressive result for the rookie, as he goes hunting his first F1 points of the season tomorrow.
Nico Hulkenberg, 20th, 1:05.606
“Definitely not the qualifying result I was expecting. Unfortunately, I made a mistake into Turn Four – I locked up the front right and ran wide, missing the apex. It was costly in terms of lap time, and obviously frustrating, especially knowing the potential we had in the car today. It’s disappointing, no doubt, but the recent progress we’ve made has been encouraging. Starting from the back tomorrow won’t be easy – traffic is guaranteed – but we know our car has decent race pace. We’ll go through all strategic options tonight and aim to fight our way back. Tomorrow is about maximising every opportunity and pushing hard to recover. Congrats to Gabi on his first Q3 appearance and P8 on the grid!”
Gabriel Bortoleto, 8th, 1:05.132
"I am delighted to have made it into Q3 for the first time today. It’s been a great weekend so far, where everything came together just right. As a team, we have worked tirelessly, testing different setups, learning from both the successes and the setbacks, and consistently staying competitive. From the beginning of the season, I have believed in the potential of this team and our ability to keep improving, even when we were starting from a difficult position. Reaching Q3 for the first time - especially at a track that holds special meaning for me - is a fantastic milestone. It is a clear sign that all the effort, patience, and teamwork are paying off. I am proud of the progress we have made, but I also know the job is only halfway done: we must stay focused ahead of tomorrow, in order to keep up with the momentum and hopefully convert this qualifying result into my first points finish."
Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal
"Our best qualifying result since Las Vegas 2023. Gabi put in a storming performance all through qualifying and built on that over and over to claim eighth on the grid for the race tomorrow. Nico looked good on the first run but ran wide at Turn Four and that’s the difference between Q1and Q2 in this incredibly tight season. I want to thank everyone back at the factory for getting the upgrades to the track in time. It's encouraging to see everyone in the team working hard and improving our performance.”
Alpine
Alpine managed to get both cars out of Q1, but Colapinto could go no further. Still, P14 was a decent display considering he spun in FP3 and was struggling in the first two practice sessions. As for Gasly, he looked like making a deep run into the top 10. But on his second flying lap in Q3, he spun coming out of the final corner, his car doing far more than 360 degrees as he turned around and around. That brought out the yellow flags, and hampered a fair few of his rivals who had to lift off as a result.
Pierre Gasly, 10th, 1:05.649
“While I am pleased to be in Q3, I am not too happy with my mistake at the final corner when I was on a decent lap. I was pushing the absolute limit, too much in the end, and had the spin, fortunately avoiding any damage. Up until then, I was really pushing the car a lot in Q1 and Q2 to put ourselves in contention for the top ten. It is fine margins sometimes and the positive is that clearly the performance and potential was there in the car today. We worked hard to find those improvements after Practice and we need to take these learnings forward at every race. Tomorrow, we start in tenth place and we need a good start and see what we can do from there. It is exciting that we are in the mix, better than we anticipated, and now we need to aim to stay there and score some points.”
Franco Colapinto, 14th, 1:05.288
“Generally, we made a good step from where we were yesterday, but I feel like there was more out there today. When you see how small the margins are it's very close, so without the little mistake at Turn 3 which cost us a tenth and a half, it probably cost us the chance of progressing to the next session. The wind picked up in the afternoon, which made the car a bit unpredictable but was the same for everyone. The car felt better, especially in the low speed, however, I was struggling with confidence in the high speed compared to previous sessions, so there's still a bit of work to do there. I feel like I'm still finding my feet through certain corners and understanding which direction to go with the car. The focus is now on tomorrow and we will give it our all to try and move forward in the race.”
Flavio Briatore, Executive Advisor
“The team did a good job to find some performance after a couple of difficult Practice sessions. Pierre was on course for a better result but made a mistake and spun at the last corner on his final push lap. It's a pity as, without that, we would have been starting the race in sixth or seventh place tomorrow. Clearly the car was good enough for Q3, but we are still lacking having two cars up where they should be. Franco was through Q1 but too far away to reach Q3, which we need to improve if we are to put ourselves in a more competitive position with both cars. We will see what tomorrow brings. It will be hot, strategy and managing the tyres will be important and it is becoming more and more vital for us to score points given our current position.”
Aston Martin
Aston Martin could not quite get a car into Q3 on a day where the gaps narrowed considerably. Alonso got closest, making it to Q2 and winding up just less than a tenth of a second shy of making it to the top 10. Stroll exited in Q1, unable to extract enough pace in the hot conditions. The team could still challenge for points, as Alonso hunts a third top-10 finish in a row.
Fernando Alonso, 11th, 1:05.128
"I am quite happy with P11 today. We were very close to making Q3 and it gives us a good opportunity to score points tomorrow. It has been a tricky few sessions here so far and I haven’t been completely comfortable behind the wheel. Tomorrow will be a tough race for everyone, especially with the hot conditions, so we will need to be clever and flexible with our strategy. If we get everything right, there is definitely a chance to move forward and fight for some points."
Lance Stroll, 16th, 1:05.329
"I was obviously hoping for more after we showed some early signs of decent pace in the practice sessions, but the conditions changed ahead of Qualifying and we weren’t as competitive. I think the hotter temperatures impacted us and the car was not coming alive as much in these conditions. I was struggling with grip and car balance, and I suspect it was due to the heat, but we will need to look at it in more detail. It’s going to be challenging tomorrow, but we will see what we can do."
Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer
"On this short lap we saw the entire field covered by less than a second. Both Fernando and Lance said the car was not easy to drive, with low grip, and the higher track temperatures appeared to impact our competitiveness.
"Fernando progressed to Q2 and was just a fraction away from making the top ten. We saw similar small margins for Lance who missed out on Q2 by five hundredths. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow to try and compete for points. It’s a track that usually delivers interesting racing, with good overtaking opportunities, and there are several strategy options to consider."
Williams
Williams still lacked pace in FP3, their car just not working well at this track. Once Qualifying began, things did not improve. Sainz had no pace whatsoever in Q1, and remained convinced the car must be damaged as he exited in Q1 for the third straight race weekend. Albon put in a great effort to make Q2, but once there got caught out by red flags. That left him with only used tyres for his last run, and he could only manage P12 on a tricky day for the team.
Alex Albon, 12th, 1:05.205
"We collected some damage on the floor during Q1, and the mechanics did a fantastic job to tape up as much as we could to go back out. Our Q2 run on fresh tyres had to be aborted due to the red flag, and despite using old tyres on a damaged car, we still qualified P12 so I’m pretty happy with that. There were some glimpses of pace in Q1 but we couldn't replicate the same lap times while carrying damage. I’m still really happy with the execution of Q2 and, without damage, we had a car capable of reaching Q3. Tomorrow I hope there will be some good racing and we can try to have a good result; I’m optimistic we can go and get some points."
Carlos Sainz, 19th, 1:05.582
"A frustrating Qualifying. We had a brake issue from the start of the session which was making the car pull massively to one side and I ended up picking up floor damage which made the car undriveable. Overall, we need to pull together as a team and review what’s causing this run of form in Qualifying and on the Soft tyre. For tomorrow, we seemed to have good race pace yesterday so I will give it all to recover and get into the points."
James Vowles, Team Principal
"We found floor damage on both Carlos and Alex's cars during the session. The kerbs here are aggressive and we need to use every millimetre of the track in order to be competitive in what is a very tight field, but that cost both drivers performance today. We will be able to repair that overnight and we'll come back tomorrow fighting. The race car on Friday was good and I still expect us to have a quick car come tomorrow, but we have a lot of ground to cover."
Haas
Haas struggled for pace yesterday, and it did not look like they had found anything overnight. Ocon exited in Q1 in Qualifying, and Bearman could only manage P15 on the grid. The good news is that their race pace is often better than their one-lap pace, and Austria is a track where overtaking is very possible. But from so far back, they will be hoping for a chaotic race filled with Safety Cars if they want to make it near the points.
Esteban Ocon, 17th, 1:05.364
“I don’t think we’ve optimised today, I definitely think we have more pace than we’ve shown. We lacked two tenths in the first two corners, and there was no improvement through the runs, plus the grip didn’t feel good. That was enough to put me out in Q1, as we were missing one tenth. Tomorrow, there’s opportunity to come back as there’s going to be lots of stops and a bit more degradation than normal, so it’s going to be an interesting race.”
Oliver Bearman, 15th, 1:05.312
“In Q1 the feeling was much better, despite not having the best lap from my side, we still managed to get through. In Q2, I definitely felt more dialled in but the wind seemed to pick up and I think we struggled a bit more compared to others with those conditions. We have two new sets of hard tyres for tomorrow, which lots of others don’t have, and although we lost a set of softs in quali and expected to have a difficult session, I’m glad to be where we are. I think we could’ve been a few more positions up, but I’m optimistic about the race tomorrow.”
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal
“It’s so tight in the midfield, only a couple of tenths is the difference of getting into Q2 or not, and the difference between P12 and P15 is one tenth – so everything has to be perfect. When you have slightly less than ideal conditions, you simply don’t make it – and we knew that. We couldn’t quite get it for Esteban with the tyre conditions and in Q2 the wind picked up, and it made life a lot more difficult for Ollie. We know from Friday that our race pace is good, so our focus is coming from our current positions to score points tomorrow.”
Pirelli
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director
“On what is such a short track in terms of lap time, one usually sees very small gaps separating the cars and that was the case in Q1, with all 20 drivers covered by less than one second. That only serves to make Lando’s final Q3 lap all the more impressive. Tomorrow, we can expect a closely contested race, even if McLaren clearly start as favourites. As for strategy, we believe that a two-stop is the quickest choice, running the Medium and Hard. A one-stop is doable, given that tyre degradation is quite low, in fact probably even lower than expected, but on paper it is still significantly slower, by around seven seconds. On top of that, overtaking is definitely possible at this track as there are three DRS zones.
“It’s worth nothing that drivers from three teams – Aston Martin, Racing Bulls and Alpine - will have a set of Hard and one of Medium available, while the Haas pair will have two of Hard and one of Medium.”
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