2024 F1 Austrian GP qualifying results: Verstappen takes pole

Verstappen will start ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ George Russell after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

Austrian Grand Prix grid: Verstappen on pole from Norris

What happened in Austrian Grand Prix Q1?

Russell set the benchmark with a lap time of 1m05.614s, which was quickly beaten by Verstappen’s 1m05.336s and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who set the top spot benchmark at 1m05.263s on fresh soft tyres.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri jumped up to second, 0.048s behind Sainz and 0.025s ahead of Verstappen.

Falling at the first hurdle were Alex Albon (Williams), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Valtteri Bottas (Sauber), Logan Sargeant (Williams) and Zhou Guanyu (Sauber).

Austrian GP Q1 results: Sainz fastest from Piastri

What happened in Austrian Grand Prix Q2?

Verstappen set the pace at 1m04.469s, setting two laps good enough for first place. He ended up over half a second clear of the rest, led by Sainz and Russell who set the same time of 1m05.016s.

Knocked out at this point were Daniel Ricciardo (RB), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Yuki Tsunoda (RB) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin).

Austrian GP Q2 results: Verstappen fastest from Sainz

What happened in Austrian Grand Prix Q3?

Q3 was delayed as marshals swept the track at Turn 6.

On the first runs, Verstappen set provisional pole with 1m04.426s, with Norris 0.361s in arrears but well clear of the others.

On the final runs, Verstappen improved to 1m04.314s to take his fourth pole position for the Austrian GP in a row.

Norris retained second from Piastri’s challenge but was 0.404s off pole. Piastri lost his third-fastest lap due to exceeding track limits.

That means Russell will start third ahead of Sainz and Lewis Hamilton, who is under investigation for knocking over his rear jack as he left the Mercedes garage.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc went off at Turn 9, bouncing across the grass and damaging his floor, and could only manage sixth. Piastri slumped to seventh due to his penalty, which looked marginal.

Sergio Perez (Red Bull), Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine) round out the top 10.

Austrian GP Q3 results: Verstappen takes pole