Norris storms to pole in Austria as Red Bull's qualifying dominance crumbles
SPIELBERG, June 29 — Lando Norris delivered a superb final flying lap in his McLaren yesterday to end Max Verstappen's run of domination in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring by claiming pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix.
The 25-year-old Briton clocked an outstanding lap in one minute and 3.971 seconds to outpace nearest rival Charles Leclerc of Ferrari by 0.521 seconds, with McLaren team-mate and championship leader Oscar Piastri third.
Norris, who is 22 points behind Piastri in the drivers' title race, erased any hangover from his collision with Piastri in Canada two weeks ago with a thrilling demonstration of his speed and talent.
'It was a good lap, that's for sure,' said Norris. 'I guess that just little bit by little bit, I was able to get more time. Q1 was good, but I knew there were a few places I could get more time and I did what I planned to do.'
Verstappen had taken pole position at the Red Bull-owned circuit in the Styrian Alps for the last five F1 races before Norris succeeded and seized his first pole in Austria, his third of the season and 12th of his career.
Team-mate Piastri was disappointed and frustrated.
'I had (Pierre) Gasly spin at the first corner so I didn't even open my second lap. Lando's been very quick all weekend so it would have been a tough challenge, but we had the pace to be on the front row.
'We can still have a good race from there and we are not here to come home third.'
Verstappen's last lap was stymied by a yellow flag waved when Gasly spun in his Alpine, leaving the Dutch driver, like Piastri, unable to clock a flying lap time. Verstappen finished seventh.
'The whole of qualifying didn't go well at all,' said Verstappen.
'There was no corner where the car felt good, so that is a huge problem in qualifying. It wasn't nice to drive at all.
'I don't think we're strong enough to challenge the McLarens... They're at another level, but hopefully tomorrow we can at least be competitive with Ferrari or Mercedes.'
Ferrari's Leclerc said: 'I'm very pleased. It's been a long time since we started on the front row and it's been a difficult season overall, but the team has kept pushing.
'We brought some new parts this weekend which for sure made a difference. We know we have a better car in the race than in qualifying so I hope we can put more pressure on the McLarens.'
Leclerc's team-mate and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was an encouraging fourth ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls, four-time champion Verstappen of Red Bull and Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber.
Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli was ninth in the second Mercedes and Gasly 10th.
'Worse than before'
After a frantic and hot first session, in which Russell recovered from the drop zone to 11th, it was Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon of Haas, Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, Carlos Sainz in the second Williams and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg who were eliminated.
McLaren, led by Norris, set the pace.
The entire field was separated by less than a second with the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Tsunoda, sixth and 18th, only 0.25 seconds apart.
The track temperature touched 50 at the start of Q2 with Ferrari leading the way on used softs as Norris established his supremacy again before a trackside grass fire prompted a red flag stoppage, Hamilton having run wide there at turn 10.
After six minutes, the action resumed with only four to go as Norris and Piastri set the pace ahead of Leclerc while two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, Williams' Alex Albon, Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar, Franco Colapinto of Alpine and Oliver Bearman of Haas missed out.
As Q3 began, Russell almost hit a Ferrari when he was released into their path narrowly avoiding a collision.
On the first runs, Norris was fastest again ahead of Leclerc with Piastri third and Hamilton fourth, the Ferraris enjoying the heat as Mercedes wilted before Norris stormed to pole. — AFP
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