2025 Austrian Grand Prix Qualifying Review

Linus O'Howell
Jun 28
2 min read

One of the best Qualifying Sessions of the season took place in Round 11 as all 20 drivers looked to nail a lap around the fast Red Bull Ring!

Q1

In Qualifying 1, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Carlos Sainz, and Nico Hulkenberg were the five slowest drivers! Lance Stroll will be disappointed to have missed out on Q2 after impressing throughout Practice, whilst Esteban Ocon wasn’t quick enough for Haas! Despite not being a million miles off his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda still suffered yet another Q1 exit, as did Carlos Sainz who was not at all happy with his Williams! Nico Hulkenberg ended up slowest in Qualifying, nearly 5 tenths slower than his Rookie teammate! Lando Norris topped Q1 for McLaren, some 3 tenths clear of teammate Oscar Piastri!

Q2

In Qualifying 2, Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Isack Hadjar, Franco Colapinto, and Oliver Bearman all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! Fernando Alonso probably got the maximum out of his Aston Martin to qualify 11th, ahead of Alex Albon’s Williams, whilst Isack Hadjar will be very disappointed after going nearly 2 tenths slower in Q2 (compared to Q1)! Franco Colapinto came in 14th for Alpine, ahead of Oliver Bearman as Haas’ weekend went from bad to worse! It was another 1-2 for McLaren in Q2, with Norris again clear of Piastri!

Q3

In Qualifying 3, a sensational 1:03.971 was enough for Lando Norris to take a stonking Pole Position! Boy did Lando need this, to be over 5 tenths clear of the rest of the field is pretty sensational! Charles Leclerc did a mega job to get his Ferrari into P2, ahead of Oscar Piastri who will be disappointed after failing to get his final lap in due to yellow flags! Lewis Hamilton did a better job today to line up 4th for tomorrow, ahead of his old teammate George Russell, whilst Liam Lawson absolutely smashed it to take P6 for Racing Bulls! It was not the day that Max Verstappen and the home crowd were hoping for as the 4-time World Champion will start 7th, alongside Gabriel Bortoleto who pulled out his best performance to date! Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be disappointed with 9th for Mercedes whilst Pierre Gasly did a really good job to get his car into Q3, only to mess it up on his final run!