Austrian Grand Prix qualifying results, starting grid: Norris dominates, Verstappen not the top Red Bull

Lando Norris needs to start pushing back to get back in the title race. Saturday's Austrian Grand Prix qualifying was a good start. Norris outclassed the field to get pole for Sunday's 71-lap race, with a Ferrari in between him and his teammate.

Q1 brought some shock exits, and Q3 had two big upsets in terms of midfield cars higher up in the order than expected.

Q1: Red Bull's second seat curse continues

No major incidents occurred in Q1, but some shock exits came with it.

In the drop zone was Carlos Sainz, who asked his team if there was damage to his car after a mistake-laden lap. Sainz has now missed Q3 in four consecutive qualifying sessions.

Also out was Yuki Tsunoda, who continued to struggle. Tsunoda hasn't made it to Q3 since Miami, and has done better than 18th in quali one time over the last five race weekends.

Brutally, Tsunoda was under three tenths off from teammate Max Verstappen, but on a track as small as Austria, the tenths matter even more.

There was less than a second between P1 to P20, and just over six tenths from P1 to P18.

Q2: McLarens, Bortoleto on fire (and the grass was too)

The McLarens continued to fly along in Q2 and the proceedings were only paused due to a fire in the grass. This is not the first time we've seen this even this season. But the stoppage left cars with five minutes to prepare and head out for a final lap to get them through to the final round.

Props need to go to Gabriel Bortoleto for his first Q3 appearance in Formula 1, and it was a very convincing lap, too — P5 ahead of both Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. Pierre Gasly locked himself in for a sixth top 10 appearance of 2025.

Williams' pace was not quite there while Aston Martin didn't deliver after some decent practice sessions.

Q3: No surprise at the front, some surprises in the middle

Coming into the final runs, it felt like it was going to take a massive effort for anyone to stop Lando Norris — and that was correct, with him over a half-second over anyone else. Oscar Piastri ultimately couldn't get a second effort on after Pierre Gasly went for a spin on the final corner.

Charles Leclerc split the McLarens and Lewis Hamilton put himself on the second row, a much-needed improvement for the Tifosi. Max Verstappen backed out of his final lap, which opened the door for him to not even be the highest qualifying Red Bull car: that was Liam Lawson in P6.

Another round of applause for Bortoleto, who pipped two cars in Q3 for a P8 start on Sunday.

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2025 F1 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying results/starting grid