Austrian GP qualifying: Lando Norris takes pole ahead of Charles Leclerc

Lando Norris lifted his championship hopes with a dominant performance in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to pole position by 0.521 seconds.

Norris’ McLaren teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri had to settle for third on the grid after his final Q3 lap was compromised before it started when Pierre Gasly spun out of the final corner and brought out yellow flags that forced the McLaren driver to back off.

The result follows a collision between the McLaren drivers at the last round in Canada, which saw Norris retire and drop 22 points behind Piastri in the standings.

“Nice to see the old me back every now and then,” Norris said on team radio. He added in parc ferme: “It was a good lap, that’s for sur. I guess it was little bit, by little bit. My Q1 was good but I knew there was a few places where I could get a bit more time, and I did exactly that. I did what I planned to do, so very happy.

“It’s a long season. I still savour this moment, particularly because some of my tougher moments this year have been in quali, but I’m excited. I’m happy with today but I want to prove it to myself over and over again, and hopefully this is just the beginning of it.”

Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix will present an opportunity for Norris to reduce that gap ahead of the midway point of the season at Silverstone next weekend, but with McLaren looking like the class of the field at the Red Bull Ring, he may still have to hold off his teammate during the 71-lap race.

Piastri’s first attempt in Q3 was 0.062 seconds off Leclerc in second place, who secured his best qualifying result since the Monaco Grand Prix.

“It was the fact I didn’t get to start it, that was the problem,” Piastri said. “Lando has been very quick all weekend so it would have been a tough challenge, but I think we easily had enough pace in the car this weekend to get on the front row. Always a shame when you don’t get the chance.

“Sometimes, just not your day.

“I think there will be some opportunties tomorrow. I’m not planning on finishing third, that’s for sure.”

Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton took fourth on the grid — his best of the season — underlining the performance step the Italian team appears to have made with an upgraded floor this weekend.

Max Verstappen had to back out of his final Q3 attempt due to the yellow flags caused by Gasly in the final sector and will start seventh on the grid as a result — one place behind Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson and two behind Canada race winner George Russell in fifth place for Mercedes.

Gabriel Bortoleto featured in Q3 for the first time in his career, and will start eighth in his Sauber after beating Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Gasly in Q3.

Fernando Alonso will start 11th for Aston Martin after missing out on a place in the top ten by 0.086 seconds. He will line up ahead of Alex Albon in 12th on only the second occasion this year that a Williams driver did not feature in Q3. Isack Hadjar qualified 13th for Racing Bulls ahead of the Alpine of Franco Colapinto in 14th and Haas driver Oliver Bearman in 15th.

Lance Stroll missed out on a place in Q2 by 0.051 seconds and will start the race from 16th for Aston Martin. Esteban Ocon was 17th for Haas ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who complained about a lack of front grip in his Red Bull and qualified 18th. It was Tsunoda’s third Q1 exit as a Red Bull driver, although he was only 0.263 seconds off the time of teammate Verstappen in the same session.

Carlos Sainz suffered damage to his Williams during the session and had to settle for 19th place ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg.