George Russell took pole position for the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix after initially being investigated after completing his lap under yellow flags triggered by a Max Verstappen crash.
The Brit’s final lap was enough to send him to P1 by two tenths from Charles Leclerc, with Lewis Hamilton third, but his security in the position was initially unclear.
Max Verstappen, just seconds before, crashed out on the exit of Turn 9, having put up an impressive display throughout the hour.
The yellow flags were immediately brought out as Russell approached the end of the lap, but was adjudged to have sufficiently slowed enough to be exempt from punishment.
Q1
The afternoon sun baked the picturesque Styrian mountains ahead of qualifying, with air temperatures of 33 °C, with everyone from fans and drivers to media struggling to stay cool in the paddock. The track temperature was also soaring, reaching over 33 °C.
Coming into qualifying, Ferrari had all eyes on them, watching curiously to see how their power unit upgrade fared on the sweeping Red Bull Ring. Equally under the spotlight was Red Bull, who brought a raft of new car parts for the RB22 to close the gap to the top teams.
With Mercedes topping all three practice sessions, the question of who would take pole position would be a complex one, answered by one lap pace, tyre management and, as ever, the all important performance.
At the green light, the queue at the end of the pitlane was absent, with only three cars opting to take to the circuit immediatley, the Haas of Esteban Ocon leading the two Cadillacs before the rest of the field started to join them.
Antonelli led at the end of the first runs, just under two tenths of a second clear of Lando Norris’ McLaren, with Lewis Hamilton the lead Ferrari in third. Red Bull meanwhile were turning heads with Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar in fourth and fifth.
In the bottom half of the order, both Aston’s now had their now customary back row slot, with both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll over three seconds off the leading pace. Cadillac’s upgrades brought them to within striking distance of Williams, just over a tenth away as the final runs began. Ocon’s day looked to be ending in disaster, a whopping one second behind his teammate in 20th.
At the chequered flag, Ocon moved into 13th, leaving Williams and Audi battling to progress into Q2. Williams sadly lost this battle. Both Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon joined Vatteri Bottas and Sergio Perez in the bottom five. Perez’s session was particularly impressive, recovering after two stoppages to qualify ahead of his teammate. The Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll ended the session on the back row. Liam Lawson turned heads by putting his Racing Bulls into fourth in the dying seconds of Q1.
Eliminated: Sainz, Albon, Perez, Bottas, Alonso, Stroll
Q2
The drivers were once again slow to take to the track at the start of the session, opting to give themselves plenty of space. Unusually, it was the top runners who ventured out first, with Norris and Verstappen the first two to set a time.
Once all the drivers had completed their first banker lap, Antonelli once again topped proceedings, this time with Piastri the nearest challenger, with the two Ferraris third and fourth respectively, Charles Leclerc ahead of Lewis Hamilton. George Russell endured a difficult Q2, with Team Principal Toto Wolff taking to the airwaves to tell the Briton to “just drive”, offering encouragement.
In the lower end of the order, the battle to progress to Q3 looked to be tight as ever. Just over six-tenths of a second separates eighth to 12th, with Pierre Gasly the best of the rest behind the top teams. The two Racing Bulls looked strong, with Audi looking to be too far off the pace to challenge.
As the timer ticked down in the closing seconds, Verstappen found himself on the cusp of being eliminated. Gasly pushed hard, but failed to knock out the four-time world champion by just 0.040s. Lawson and teammate Arvid Lindblad both improved on their final runs, leaving both Audis and Haas drivers to join Gasly and Colapinto as the eliminated drivers of Q2.
Eliminated: Gasly, Bortoleto, Bearman, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Colapinto
Q3
The battle for pole position began in earnest, as all ten drivers took to the track at the green light for Q3. The first runs came immediately, with Verstappen jumping to the top of the timesheets before both Antonelli took his place at the top of the timesheets. Russell put a challenging Q1 behind him to lie second, with Verstappen demoted to third.
One driver who was under pressure ahead of the final runs was Lewis Hamilton. He ran wide at Turn 3 on his first lap, with Ferrari informing the seven-time world champion that he had to box immediately.
The two Racing Bulls and Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull joined Hamilton in the lower end of the top ten, with a three-tenths of a second gap between them and Lando Norris in sixth as the drivers took to the track for their final laps/
The dying seconds of qualifying produced a spectacular display by the two Ferraris, before Max Verstappen hit the wall, preventing any other laps from being registered. That was until Russell took pole position despite double waved yellows, the Mercedes driver confirming he lifted in the final sector. The stewards announced a double waved yellow flag infringements as the cars reached parc ferme.
Top 10: Russell Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, Verstappen,, Norris, Piastri, Hadjar, Lawson, Lindblad
READ MORE – F1 2026 Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying Results
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