Lando Norris stormed to pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix, beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by more than half a second as third-placed McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s seventh-placed Max Verstappen were denied final flying laps by a late spin for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. 

At the start of Q1, Verstappen was the first of the front-runners on track, ahead of the twin McLarens. The Dutchman jumped to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:05.106, but a moment into Turn 4 cost him time and Norris stole top spot by over four tenths of a second. Piastri also made a mistake in T4 and after abandoning his lap ​and putting in a cool down lap​, a second flyer put him second, a tenth ahead of Verstappen. 

Track evolution was now beginning to come into play and with a little under five minutes left, Williams’ Alex Albon put in a purple middle sector to vault to fourth place with a time of 1:05.143. Better times began to flow in, and Liam Lawson driver gained the most time, jumping to third place ahead of Gasly and Racing Bulls team-mate Isack Hadjar. Verstappen backed out of his final lap and eased through in P6 with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton ahead of Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

Further back, there was no place in the second session for Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who dropped out in P16 ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon. Yuki Tsunoda exited in P18, the fourth time in five races that the Japanese driver has qualified in the bottom three. The Red Bull driver was followed to the exit by Williams’ Carlos Sainz who insisted something on his car was broken and Kick Sauber’s Noc Hülkenberg. 

At the start of Q2, the Racing Bulls continued to show good pace, with Lawson taking an early P1 with a lap of 1:05.248 and Hadjar taking P3 behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. However, Norris once again rose to top spot with a lap of 1:04.41 with Piastri slotting into second a little over a tenth behind and ahead of Leclerc and Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton who displaced Hadjar. Verstappen’s opening time of 1:05.103 was only good enough for fifth as he complained that the grip from his RB21 was “even worse than before”. 

Just as the first runs came to an end the red flags were thrown when a grass fire broke out at the beginning of the start/finish straight. 

When the session resumed, the final runs proved to be a mixed bag. Verstappen found three tenths to go third behind Norris and Piastri, who both made mistakes on their final run, but Leclerc also made gains, and he jumped a tenth clear of the Red Bull driver. 

Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto sprung a surprise by jumping to P5 to claim the first Q3 spot of his career. Gasly also delivered a good lap to take sixth ahead of Russell and Hamilton. Lawson backed out of his final lap but made it through in P9 ahead of Antonelli, but there was no joy for team-mate Isack Hadjar. Like his team-mate, an error from the French driver led to him backing out of his lap and he exited in P13 ahead of Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Haas’ Ollie Bearman, but behind the P11 Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and Williams’ Alex Albon. 

At the start of the top-10 shootout, Norris’s pace proved irresistible, and he took provisional pole with a lap of 1:04.268. Piastri made a slight error on his lap and that allowed Leclerc to take P2 a little over five hundredths ahead of the Australian who was two tenths off top spot. Behind the top three, Hamilton slotted into fourth ahead of Russell, and Verstappen, who was on used tyres. 

Red Bull’s decision to leave his sole set of fresh Softs for the final run proved costly however when Gasly spun luridly at the final corner. The first man on the scene was Piastri and the double waved yellows wrecked his final flyer. Verstappen then arrived and though the track went green, DRS was still disabled, and the Dutchman was forced to back out of his final flyer. The lost lap meant that Hamilton, Russell and Lawson jumped ahead of the Dutchman ​who had to settle for a disappointing seventh ahead of Bortoleto, Antonelli and the unfortunate Gasly. 

Norris, though, was in imperious form and on his final flying lap the McLaren driver roared to an improved lap of 1:03.971 to beat Leclerc by 0.521 seconds. Piastri held on to third. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:03.971 - -
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:04.492 0.521
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:04.554 0.583 
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:04.582 0.611 
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:04.763 0.792 
6 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:04.926 0.955 
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:04.929 0.958 
8 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:05.132 1.161 
9 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:05.276 1.305 
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:05.649 1.678 
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:05.128 1.157 
12 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:05.205 1.234 
13 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:05.226 1.255 
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:05.288 1.317 
15 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:05.312 1.341 
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:05.329 1.358 
17 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:05.364 1.393 
18 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:05.369 1.398 
19 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:05.582 1.611 
20 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:05.606 1.635