Whatever you throw at Max Verstappen this season, nothing seems to bother him. A quarrel between father and team boss, no dominant car, not one but two fast McLarens on his neck: it leaves Verstappen cold. The sprint race therefore became a prey for the leader in the championship. He was also the fastest in the sprint qualification. Let’s see if he can repeat that trick in the qualification for the 2024 Austrian GP.
Question 1
In sprint qualifying, drivers were still required to drive on medium tires during the first two qualifying parts and on soft in the final part. Now the teams and drivers can decide for themselves which rubber they use. A large part of the drivers choose to do some runs on used soft tires first. In this way they hope to save a set of new tires for a later moment.
For many, this saving does not work. Because the Red Bull Ring is so short (at 4.3 kilometers the shortest lap on the F1 calendar), the differences are even smaller than they normally are. All drivers except the top three therefore do not trust it and come out again. In the end, almost the entire field is within half a second of Sainz’s fastest time. For Albon, Stroll, Bottas, Sargeant and Zhou it is not enough. They start at the back tomorrow.
Question 2
At the start of the second part of qualifying in Austria, Max Verstappen shows his muscles. He made some adjustments to the wing between the sprint race and this qualifying. These adjustments seem to make the RB20 a lot faster than before. After his run on new tires, only Russell and Piastri can get within half a second of the Red Bull. More drivers will be added later, but the competition will not get closer than 0.4 seconds.
In the second runs Verstappen finds it necessary to make it even more painful for the competition. He improves his time and is still more than half a second faster than anyone else. Daniel Ricciardo is 0.8 seconds slower and 0.01 slower than Ocon who finishes tenth. Ricciardo drops out in Q2 together with Magnussen, Gasly, Tsunoda and Alonso.
Q3
Verstappen’s dominance continues in the last part of qualifying. After all drivers have produced a lap time, Verstappen is 0.3 seconds faster than Norris, 0.5 behind Russell in P3 and one whole second ahead of his teammate who is eighth. At the end, the championship leader goes out once again, just like his competition.
Verstappen shaves another 0.1 second off his fastest time. Norris comes closest at 0.4 seconds from the man on pole. Leclerc gives everything and perhaps too much in his final run. He shoots straight ahead at the exit of the penultimate corner and is therefore unable to improve his time. Pérez comes within eight tenths of his teammate. It seemed that we were finally rid of the dominance…
Result of the qualifying for the 2024 Austrian GP
- Verstappen
- Norris
- Russel
- Sainz
- Hamilton
- Leclerc
- Plates
- Perez
- Hulkenberg
- Ocon
- Ricciardo
- Magnussen
- Gasly
- Tsunoda
- Alonso
- Albon
- Strolling around
- Failed
- Sergeant
- Zhou
What time does F1 start in Austria?
Sunday June 30
Race: 3:00 PM