Red Bull regained the technical lead in qualifying for the Austrian GP. Max Verstappen, despite a very hot track (37 degrees of air and 45 degrees of asphalt), gave a clear sign of strength by putting four tenths ahead of Lando Norris. The Dutchman on the soft tyres reached 1’04″314, beating his pole from last year which was achieved in much more favourable conditions.
Max, with his eighth start of the season which is also the fourth in Austria (new record) and the 40th of his career, is back in front of everyone after three GPs in a row in which he had missed the target, always by a few thousandths. Obviously the Dutchman put his best foot forward, but we are convinced that Red Bull has regained the technical leadership, so Lando Norris’ McLaren ended up far behind, along with everyone else.
McLaren had Oscar Piastri in third place behind his teammate, but the Australian saw his excellent 1’04″786 cancelled out due to a track limit at turn 6. The penalty that made him sink to seventh place was right. The boy ruins his performance with errors that affect the results.
The second row is opened by George Russell’s Mercedes: the Englishman managed to precede Carlos Sainz by just 11 thousandths. The Spaniard slipped between the two W15s giving the perception that the Ferrari has improved slightly compared to the qualifying of the race, even if the SF-24 on balance remains the fourth force, with the same potential as the black-silver arrows, giving the feeling of being in contention for the podium.
Charles Leclerc, after a small mistake at the exit of turn 4 (up to that point he was very competitive) tried to overcome the car’s problems and in the end he made a big mistake at turn 10 after running wide at turn 9. Ferrari it got a little closer to the McLaren, but didn’t find the energy to overtake the Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton is fifth right behind Sainz: the seven-time world champion will end up under investigation because he left the pits dragging with him the tube that is placed on the exhaust to direct the gases away from those working on the car. Verstappen himself was called out for being too slow on the launch lap, but we are sure that they will get away with fines or reprimands.
Bad Sergio Perez: the Mexican is a ghost who pays eight tenths to his teammate. It is true that he arrived at Q3 without a set of new soft tyres, because he had to use four to get through the two previous sessions, demonstrating his difficult moment.
Nico Hulkenberg’s ninth position with Haas was positive: the German continues to make the difference with his teammate. Esteban Ocon’s tenth place with Alpine was also incisive: it is the third time in a row that the Frenchman enters Q3, giving a sense of continuity of the team led by Bruno Famin in the middle of the group.
The Racing Bulls, on their home track, fail to get into Q3 by 15 thousandths, but 11th position is enough for Daniel Ricciardo, because the Australian who is in the team’s sights for his inadequate performance, has taken away the pleasure to stay ahead of Yuki Tsunoda only fourteenth. The two drivers from Faenza have cars with slightly different configurations, to understand what the development line should be for the innovations introduced in Spain with little success.
Kevin Magnussen suffers on the track which is nestled in the hot Spielberg basin: the Dane is 12th with the Haas and precedes Pierre Gasly with the second Alpine by 12 thousandths. In the second and decisive run of Q2, the Frenchman saw his time canceled due to one of the few track limits.
Fernando Alonso is not impressed and is 15th: the Asturian does not seem to be in good shape and seems unmotivated by a “green” that does not meet the team’s expectations. Worrying is the fact that the AMR24 is far from the points zone.
Alexander Albon pulls away from the back row in the Williams, although the Anglo Thai fails to puncture the pass into Q2 by 80 thousandths of a second. Alexander changed set-up after the Sprint race, finding a better balance and it was his teammate, Logan Sargeant, who sank to 19th.
Lance Stroll disappoints only 17th with Aston Martin: the Silverstone team is suffering with a car that had the ambition of aiming higher. Valtteri Bottas is 18th with Sauber: the Swiss team rejected the single beam wing and returned with the two-element version. Guanyu Zhou with the second C46 is last, but it must burn him to know that he is 20th with a gap of not even eight tenths (798 thousandths!) from those in the lead. It’s true that Spielberg is the world championship track with the lowest time, but the data is impressive all the same…
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