2024 Austrian GP Qualifying: Max's 40th Pole Position

Max Verstappen clinched pole position for the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix following a dominant display in Saturday’s qualifying session, outpacing his nearest rival, Lando Norris, by four-tenths of a second.

Verstappen set a blistering pace early in Q3, improving on his second attempt to record a lap of 1m 04.314s in his Red Bull, setting a new track record. Norris secured second place for McLaren, trailing Verstappen by 0.404s, while George Russell placed his Mercedes third on the grid.

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Carlos Sainz claimed fourth in the Ferrari, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes in fifth and Charles Leclerc in sixth, who had a moment off-track on his final flying lap. Oscar Piastri initially placed seventh but was demoted for exceeding track limits in his McLaren.

Sergio Perez took eighth for Red Bull, with Nico Hulkenberg in ninth for Haas pending investigation for two pit lane incidents post-session. Esteban Ocon completed the top 10 for Alpine.

Daniel Ricciardo settled for 11th in the first RB, while teammate Yuki Tsunoda qualified 14th. Kevin Magnussen’s Haas took 12th, with Pierre Gasly’s Alpine in 13th.

Fernando Alonso faced a tough Q2, finishing 15th after a challenging session where he nearly crashed his Aston Martin during his quick lap.

In a disappointing outcome, Alex Albon ended his day in 16th for Williams, while Logan Sargeant will start from 19th on the grid.

Aston Martin suffered a difficult qualifying. Lance Stroll finished 17th, while Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu of Kick Sauber were 18th and 20th, respectively, exiting in Q1.

Verstappen commented: “The qualifying went really well,” said Verstappen. “We tried to adjust the car a little bit after the things we learned this morning [in the Sprint]. I think it worked well.

“Of course, the track is a bit warmer than yesterday so it made it all a bit trickier to drive. But the car felt a lot better for me today, I could really attack the corners a bit more and it was just… Every run was just on point and it was very enjoyable out there.”

Austrian GP Qualifying Results

2024 Austrian Grand Prix Qualifying, 29 June 2024

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	1:05.336	1:04.469	1:04.314	18
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes	1:05.450	1:05.103	1:04.718	20
3	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:05.585	1:05.016	1:04.840	18
4	55	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:05.263	1:05.016	1:04.851	18
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:05.541	1:05.053	1:04.903	18
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:05.509	1:05.104	1:05.044	22
7	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes	1:05.311	1:05.070	1:05.048	17
8	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	1:05.587	1:05.144	1:05.202	21
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas Ferrari	1:05.596	1:05.262	1:05.385	21
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault	1:05.574	1:05.274	1:05.883	24
11	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB Honda RBPT	1:05.569	1:05.289		15
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	1:05.508	1:05.347		15
13	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault	1:05.598	1:05.359		18
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB Honda RBPT	1:05.563	1:05.412		15
15	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	1:05.656	1:05.639		15
16	23	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes	1:05.736			9
17	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	1:05.819			9
18	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber Ferrari	1:05.847			9
19	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams Mercedes	1:05.856			9
20	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber Ferrari	1:06.061			9

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Ben is a staff writer specialising in F1 from the 1990s to the modern era. Ben has been following Formula 1 since 1986 and is an avid researcher who loves understanding the technology that makes it one of the most exciting motorsport on the planet. He listens to podcasts about F1 on a daily basis, and enjoys reading books from the inspirational Adrian Newey to former F1 drivers.