Lando Norris Wins in the Qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix
Lando Norris, with a dominant performance, secured pole position in the qualifying session for the Austrian Grand Prix, boosting his championship aspirations. The McLaren driver outperformed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by a significant margin of 0.521 seconds. Norris’s teammate at McLaren and title rival, Oscar Piastri, took third place on the grid. His final lap in Q3 was compromised by an incident at the last corner, where Pierre Gasly spun and caused yellow flags, forcing Piastri to slow down. This result comes after a collision between the McLaren drivers in the previous race in Canada, where Norris had to retire, losing 22 points to Piastri in the overall standings.Norris also expressed his satisfaction with this achievement, highlighting that, despite the difficult moments in the classifications, he is excited and hopes this is just the beginning. The Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday represents an opportunity for Norris to reduce the points difference before the mid-season, which will be held at Silverstone next week. With McLaren showing great performance at the Red Bull Ring, Norris might have to defend his position against his teammate during the 71-lap race.“It’s good to see the old me from time to time,” Norris commented over the team radio. He added: “It was a good lap, that’s for sure. My Q1 was good, but I knew I could improve in some places, and I did. I did what I planned, so I’m very happy.”
Lando Norris
Leclerc and Hamilton, with an outstanding performance, achieved fourth place on the grid, demonstrating the improvement of the Italian team with the car updates. Max Verstappen, due to the yellow flags, could not complete his last attempt in Q3 and will start from seventh position, one behind Liam Lawson and two behind George Russell, who obtained fifth place. Gabriel Bortoleto, for the first time in his career, managed to get into Q3 and will start eighth in his Sauber. Fernando Alonso will start in eleventh position for Aston Martin, while Alex Albon will start twelfth. Isack Hadjar, Franco Colapinto, and Oliver Bearman complete the list of drivers in the qualifying session. Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon failed to advance to Q2 and will start from sixteenth and seventeenth position respectively. Yuki Tsunoda, with grip problems, qualified in eighteenth position. Carlos Sainz and Nico Hülkenberg will close the grid, placing in the nineteenth and twentieth positions, respectively.“The problem was that I couldn’t start it,” said Piastri. “Lando has been very fast all weekend, so it would have been a difficult challenge, but I think we had enough pace in the car this weekend to be on the front row. It’s always a shame when you don’t get the opportunity.”
Oscar Piastri
