Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the 2024 Austrian Sprint after he dominated Sprint Qualifying.
Verstappen recovered from a sensor issue to top Practice but the Dutchman proceeded to dominate Sprint Qualifying, amidst a tough challenge from Mercedes’ George Russell who ultimately qualified fourth behind McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Practice
Verstappen was first on track as soon as the pit exit turned green and quickly set a benchmark 1m 08.044, but was displaced by Russell who posted 1m 07.932 to go top from Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris on hard tyres.
Hamilton however snatched the quickest time from Russell by 0.088 seconds as the Mercedes pair improved on their second fliers, with the seven-time champion top on 1m 06.925 but Russell posted 1m 06.386 on his third flier to go fastest.
Nobody else managed to really get close in the opening half hour with many on mix of hard or medium tyre runs with one eye on Sprint Qualifying, with Hamilton lowering his time in the 21st minute to 1m 06.254 ahead of Russell by 0.132s as the Mercedes pair continued to run hard tyres.
Verstappen however caused a red flag in the 33rd minute after he encountered a sensor issue up the hill, which caused him to reverse down the hill and was recovered by marshals through a gap in the pit wall.
The session resumed four minutes later with Verstappen quickly able to re-join the action after Red Bull swiftly resolved the issue on his car.
Many drivers left their soft tyre runs until the final ten minutes and as the checkered flag fell, Verstappen topped the session with 1m 05.685 ahead of Oscar Piastri.
Hamilton, Russell and Norris set their fastest laps on the hard tyres – although Norris abandoned his soft tyre lap after running wide at Turn 4, whilst Sergio Perez plus Williams’ Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant achieved their quickest laps on the medium tyre.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 05.685 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.276 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.370 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.443 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.569 |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.612 |
| 7 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.699 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.701 |
| 9 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 0.894 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.918 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.049 |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 1.098 |
| 13 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.195 |
| 14 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 1.234 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 1.240 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 1.277 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.281 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.310 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.460 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.574 |
Sprint Qualifying
SQ1
With teams only allowed to run new medium tyres in the first two segments. teams stayed in the pits for the opening four minutes, until Hamilton went out first and set 1m 06.416 as benchmark time which was deleted after he had ran wide at Turn 1.
Russell however set the pace with 1m 05.764 but Verstappen went 0.074s quicker with 1m 05.690, whilst Alonso, Albon and Ricciardo joined Hamilton and Zhou in the elimination zone with two minutes left – although Hamilton and Zhou hadn’t set a lap time.
As the checkered flag fell, Hamilton and Alonso survived as Ricciardo only improved to 16th and was eliminated alongside; Hulkenberg, Bottas, Albon and Zhou.
Verstappen meanwhile topped the segment despite failing to improve on his final flier.
SQ2
Verstappen was straight out on track and set an unbeatable benchmark 1m 05.186 ahead of Russell as only eight drivers set a competitive opening lap time in the opening six minutes of the segment, whilst the other drivers opted for just a single SS2 run.
At the checkered flag, Magnussen missed out on SQ3 to Gasly by 0.049s ahead of Stroll and Alonso, whilst Tsunoda and Sargeant were eliminated in 14th and 15th positions.
SQ3
Unlike in the first two Sprint Qualifying segments, the top ten switched to soft tyres for the final segment but it was a quiet start with nobody rushing out onto the circuit until Hamilton and Russell were the first to venture out with just under three minutes left.
Hamilton proceeded to set a benchmark 1m 05.270 but it was Verstappen who snatched pole with 1m 04.686 ahead of Norris by 0.093s, with Piastri and Russell on second row ahead of Sainz, Hamilton, Perez, Ocon, Gasly and Leclerc – who failed to cross the line in time for a flier.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 04.686 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.093 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.301 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.368 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.440 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.584 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 1.322 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.415 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.938 |
| 10 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | No Time |
| 11 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1m 05.806 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.041 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.072 |
| 14 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 0.154 |
| 15 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 0.207 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | 1m 06.581 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.002 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 0.144 |
| 19 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.173 |
| 20 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 0.616 |
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