F1 Austrian GP live commentary and updates - qualifying
Follow along for Formula 1 qualifying updates at the Austrian Grand Prix
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F1 qualifying at Austria, T-minus one hour
Hello everyone - it's almost time to set the grid for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix. These will be some of the shortest laps of the season, and we expect our polesitter to nudge up against the 64-second mark in the final stages of Q3.
Will they reach the realms of the 1m03s lap? We'll find out soon.
Alexander Albon, Williams
Photo by: Andy Hone / LAT Images via Getty Images
FP3 recap
Earlier on, Lando Norris set a 1m04.324s to lead the way in FP3, 0.118s clear of team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Max Verstappen was third-fastest, although ended the session with "a little 360" spin at Turn 10.
Mercedes fell foul of the escalating track temperatures and were 'only' sixth and seventh, behind the Ferraris.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Weather watch
It's quite warm in Austria, as the mercury pushes 27C out there. The track temperatures will continue to escalate, which will make the end of the lap difficult on the C5s - at least, if the drivers take too much out of them in the first sector.
And, as the F2 race has just proven, a few might lose their heads in the heat...
20 minutes until Q1
We're not too far away from getting going - Q1's up first, where we'll lose the slowest five drivers. Q2 cuts another five, before the final denouement in Q3 to decide the top 10.
McLarens on form - but can Verstappen challenge?
FP3 suggested that the qualifying battle for pole will run mainly between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri as the orange cars have found form around the Red Bull Ring.
But can Max Verstappen put the cat among the pigeons? He was 0.2s off the outright pace in FP3, but if he can find that extra something he cannot be discounted.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Andy Hone / LAT Images via Getty Images
Rising temperatures don't favour Mercedes
George Russell led the way in Friday's FP1 session, but the climbing temperatures over the afternoon will start to hurt him and team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
The difficulty that the W16 chassis faces in hotter weather is primarily due to the heat retention in the tyres; although it fires them up well, the car struggles to keep the rear tyre temperatures in the working range. Track temperatures are up to 47C.
It'll be unlikely that the silver cars challenge for pole, and Ferrari might even sense a chance to beat the Mercs.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
Delayed start to Q1
We'll have a slightly delayed start to qualifying, as the F2 race finished late. The session will start at five minutes past the hour, so just a small disruption.
Austria Q1 - who's at risk?
Of those who struggled on one-lap pace in practice, the Alpines and Haases will be on the cusp here. Racing Bulls should have the pace, although Hadjar didn't show his hand in FP3; Sauber is also knocking on the door of Q2, on the evidence of FP3.
Williams didn't look particularly special in FP3 either, so the British squad needs to find something.
Qualifying begins in Austria
And Q1 is open for business! No takers from the get-go, but Albon eventually gets us running from Stroll, Alonso, and Sainz.
The Haases and Alpines are also out - I think they'll throw a few sets of tyres at getting out of Q1; some held onto soft tyre sets during FP3 and minimised their qualifying simulations.
Albon kicks us off with a 1m06.015s, 0.046s up on Stroll. Sainz is just behind them both.
Ocon then raises the bar immediately with a 1m05.745s. There should be a lot more time to find.
Hulkenberg vaults to the top with a 1m05.681s. Bortoleto pops up into third, a tenth behind his team-mate.
We've got a few of the big hitters out now; Verstappen, the McLarens, et al have hit the road.
Verstappen gets a nice tow from Antonelli up the hill to Turn 3, but there was a wobble through Turn 4.
Still, it's a 1m05.106s to go quicker than Hulkenberg - but Norris smashes home a 1m04.672s to go 0.434s quicker. Piastri aborts after running brushing the gravel at Turn 4.
Hamilton runs up to third, as Antonelli now grabs fourth - 0.611s shy of Norris. Russell can only find seventh, albeit only 0.07s shy of Antonelli.
The Williams duo do their second laps - but they're really struggling for outright pace as they're currently on the cusp of the bottom five - Albon brushes the gravel through Turn 9.
Alonso has a moment at Turn 4, as Stroll moves up to 12th fastest.
Our top 9 are all in the pits - Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton, Antonelli, Hadjar, Leclerc, Russell, Tsunoda, and Lawson. Piastri then moves up to the top 10, getting second - but 0.332s shy of Norris.
Gasly then moves up to sixth, between Antonelli and Hadjar.
Colapinto breaks out of the bottom five to go 12th, so perhaps the Alpines are fine. Hulkenberg improves but stays 13th, while Bortoleto fires his Sauber up to fifth in the timing boards. Good work.
Sainz extracts himself from the bottom five and goes 14th, but Albon seems to find some safety with his own run up to fifth.
That puts Sainz on the cusp. The Spaniard took a snap through Turn 4, so he's surely going to have to go one more time.
Bottom five with three minutes remaining
16. Hulkenberg
17. Ocon
18. Stroll
19. Bearman
20. Alonso
We've got a queue in the pitlane as the bottom half of the order (plus a few more) are trying to get a final lap in.
Ocon gets up to 13th, using all of the track to try to make it into Q2.
Alonso fires his way up into eighth, as Bearman gets ninth. Ocon drops back into the bottom five as Stroll goes 13th.
Colapinto gets up to 12th, which puts Russell into the dropzone! The Briton just about finds enough to go 11th, dumping Stroll out by just over a tenth.
Sainz can't improve, Tsunoda can't improve, and Hulkenberg can't improve - they're all out.
We've got the entire field within a second, and the top 18 within 0.7s. Tsunoda was only 0.25s off Verstappen - but that's the difference between sixth and 18th.
Lawson, Gasly, and Hadjar found their way into the top five as they were well ahead of the drop.
Eliminated in Q1
16. Stroll
17. Ocon
18. Tsunoda
19. Sainz
20. Hulkenberg.
Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Sainz on the radio, after finishing 19th: "There is damage in the car. The car is undriveable. When I say undriveable, it's pulling under braking, no load in high speed, undriveable."
Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photo by: Andy Hone / LAT Images via Getty Images
Q2 begins!
Hamilton and Leclerc are first on the road - the Ferraris didn't look too troubled in Q1, so we'd expect to see them reach Q3 unless disaster strikes.
The Mercedes are slightly more unknown, as the track temps remain at 47C. Squeaky-bum time in the Merc garage.
Leclerc and Hamilton get laps in on used softs - a 1m05.446s for the Monegasque and a 1m05.651s for the Briton. Albon also does a run on used softs, but it's not particularly quick.
Hadjar posts a 1m05.557s, but Lawson goes top for now with a 1m05.248s. Both Racing Bulls drivers have the use of new tyres for this.
Verstappen posts a 1m05.103s to take top spot from his former team-mate.
Russell crosses the line to go third, on used softs. That becomes fourth when Piastri does a 1m04.556s to go top.
Norris then finds even more time, and does a 1m04.410s. The McLarens have a big gulf to the rest of the field.
"No grip, it's worse than before" Verstappen reports, "I don't know what to say, no grip low speed, medium speed, high speed..."
He's 0.693s off Norris in this session thus far.
Session paused
We have a red flag - and there's a fire! We saw Hamilton run across the grass at Turn 10, and it's caught fire. It's just like Japan!
This hasn't affected too many people, although Albon was on a lap and had to abort.
Bottom five at Q2 red flag
11. Albon
12. Bearman
13. Alonso
14. Bortoleto
15. Colapinto
Q2 to resume at 16:47 local time
Just a few minutes, as the grass fire is presumably out. Whoever's been in charge of grass-watering this year is slacking.
Maybe the FIA watering can decided to leave...
Q2 resumes
The fire is out and the session starts again with a little over five minutes on the clock. We've got a fair few drivers who need to go again - I'd say only the McLarens are really safe here...
There's a bit of a lull - then the clock ticks with four minutes to go and everyone pours out of their garages. Here comes the flurry of final runs.
Lots of final improvement here; Bearman goes eighth - then Bortoleto gets up to third place!
Is that good enough for a first Q3 appearance for the Brazilian? Verstappen goes just 0.01s faster than Bortoleto on his tour.
Antonelli only up to eighth, which becomes ninth when Russell moves up to fifth. This pushes Hadjar into the bottom five, as the Frenchman pits.
Gasly fires his way up to sixth, Lawson backs out but he's done enough, as Colapinto only hits 13th. Albon then goes 12th.
Eliminated in Q2
11. Alonso
12. Albon
13. Hadjar
14. Colapinto
15. Bearman
Q3 contenders for pole
1. Norris
2. Piastri
3. Leclerc
4. Verstappen
5. Bortoleto
6. Gasly
7. Russell
8. Hamilton
9. Lawson
10. Antonelli
By: Autosport Staff
