Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed pole position for 2023 Austrian Grand Prix.
Verstappen dominated Practice plus the entirety of Qualifying amidst deleted lap times to take his sixth pole of the season and fourth in consecutive races, as he fought off a late challenge from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Now, here is a full roundup of Friday’s action across Practice and Qualifying for 2023 Austrian Grand Prix.
Practice
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were first out on track as many drivers opted for hard or medium tyres, although it was Verstappen who set the benchmark time of 1m 08.094 in the third minute.
Verstappen thereafter proceeded to exchange fastest laps with his teammate – Sergio Perez in the opening 10 minutes, until he posted 1m 06.961 in the ninth minute although Fernando Alonso on medium tyres displaced him two minutes later by 0.305 seconds.
The two-time champion hit back with 1m 06.598 in the 14th minute but Hamilton posted 1m 06.416 in the 20th minute to go fastest from Verstappen and Alonso, as attention switched to race simulations mid-sesison with view to save qualifying simulations for the last ten minutes.
Williams meanwhile ran out of sync to many teams and opted for an immediate qualifying simulation once they exited the pit lane after a strategic delay, with Albon going fifth fastest in the 22nd minute.
Once attention indeed switched to qualifying simulations,, Ferrari surprisingly set the pace with Sainz posting 1m 05.983 in the 54th minute on soft tyre, ahead of Verstappen on the medium tyres.
Verstappen however opted for three warm-up laps which paid off as he delivered 1m 05.742 at the checkered flag to snatch the fastest lap time, ahead of Sainz by 0.241s with Leclerc, Hamilton and Perez rounding out the top five.
Verstappen, Perez, Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Lando Norris were the only five drivers who failed to set their fastest lap times on the soft tyres.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 05.742 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.241 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.270 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.509 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.520 |
| 6 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.598 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.755 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.914 |
| 9 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.951 |
| 10 | Guanyu ZHou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.038 |
| 11 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.052 |
| 12 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.067 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.104 |
| 14 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.105 |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.243 |
| 16 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | + 1.275 |
| 17 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.276 |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.460 |
| 19 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.545 |
| 20 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.626 |
Qualifying
Q1
Several driver ventured straight out onto the circuit once the pit exit light went green with Verstappen quickly setting the benchmark time of 1m 05.190 in the fourth minute.
Red flags however were out three minutes later after Alfa Romeo’s Bottas stalled on the exit of Turn 1 and couldn’t recover power to continue on his way, following a spin upon beginning to exit the corner as he caught the dirty air of a McLaren driver.
During the red flag conditions, Bottas managed to recover power and crawl back to the pit lane where his issue was quickly prepared ahead of the restart.
Sainz meanwhile had two laps deleted for exceeding track limits, whilst Verstappen saw his fastest lap deleted during the red flag, which put both drivers and Bottas in the bottom five alongside Norris and Ocon before Zhou and Gasly saw lap times deleted.
The session resumed six minutes later with Piastri sat top on 1m 05.893 ahead of Perez and 11m 49s left on the clock, as cars steadily ventured back out onto track.
Verstappen however immediately responded with 1m 05.116 to go fastest from Sainz and Leclerc, whilst the elimination zone heading into the last five minutes compromised of; Stroll, Ocon, Sargeant, De Vries and Hulkenberg.
As the checkered flag fell, only Sargeant and De Vries failed to escape elimination as they qualified 18th and 20th respectively, sandwiched by Magnussen who had suffered downshift issues whilst Tsunoda and Zhou qualified 16th and 17th fastest.
Verstappen meanwhile topped Q1 ahead of Perez by 0.061s with Sainz and Gasly sat third and fourth fastest.
Q2
Verstappen and Perez were straight out on track ahead of the Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Sainz, with Verstappen proceeding to set the benchmark time of 1m 04.955 in the third minute.
The two-time champion however had his lap time deleted a minute later along with Perez, which put Norris top with 1m 05.038 ahead of Hulkenberg by 0.324s with the German just ahead of third-fastest Alonso by 0.010s.
Gasly meanwhile went second-fastest on his first flier in the seventh minute, albeit 0.270s off Norris’ effort.
Once everyone had posted a lap time, the elimination zone compromised of; Hamilton, Piastri, Leclerc, Bottas and Russell, as times began to tumble with Hamilton and Leclerc soon climbing into the top ten.
Verstappen meanwhile went fastest in the eighth minute with 1m 04.951 – which was 0.004s quicker than his deleted lap time, whilst Perez had his second lap time deleted in the 12th minute and slipped to 15th and last position in the session.
Once the checkered flag fell, Piastri, Bottas and Russell couldn’t avoid elimination as Perez briefly went second with his final lap, yet the Mexican’s lap time was again deleted and he dropped to 15th on the grid behind Bottas and Piastri who qualified 14th and 13th respectively.
Ocon meanwhile qualified 12th behind Russell in 11th, as the Brit missed out on Q3 by just 0.041s to Albon.
Q3
Albon on older soft tyres was first out on track as everyone else opt not to rush out unlike in Q1 and Q2, and set the benchmark time of 1m 05.823 in the third minute.
Verstappen however produced 1m 04.503 a minute later to go fastest from Leclerc and Sainz, with Norris, Alonso, Gasly, Albon and Hulkenberg rounding out the top eight as Stroll pitted in ninth place.
Hamilton meanwhile ran his opening flier out of sync and posted 1m 05.061 in the seventh minute to go fifth-fastest.
Albon on fresh tyres posted 1m 05.340 to go sixth quickest in the ninth minute but his lap time was deleted after he exceeded track limits at Turn 9.
Up front, Verstappen improved to 1m 04.391 to take a fourth consecutive pole in Austria ahead of Leclerc by 0.048s, as Sainz and Norris qualified third and fourth ahead of Hamilton, Stroll, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Gasly and Albon.
Tomorrow (1 July) sees attention switch to the Sprint Shootout and Sprint Race with the grid for the main Grand Prix now set.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 04.391 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.048 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.190 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.267 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.428 |
| 6 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.502 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.520 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.699 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.779 |
| 10 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.432 |
| 11 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 05.428 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.025 |
| 13 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.177 |
| 14 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.252 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 61.260 |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1m 05.784 |
| 17 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.034 |
| 18 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 0.164 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.187 |
| 20 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | + 0.190 |
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