Austrian GP – Page 2 – Syndication Server

UPDATE: McLaren’s protest over Piastri deletion rejected

McLaren failed an attempted protested of the qualifying results at the Austrian Grand Prix after Oscar Piastri’s lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits. Piastri set the third fastest time at the end of Q3 but then saw his final attempt …

McLaren failed an attempted protested of the qualifying results at the Austrian Grand Prix after Oscar Piastri’s lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits.

Piastri set the third fastest time at the end of Q3 but then saw his final attempt deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 6. The corner in question has an exit curb that is followed by a large gravel trap, and footage appeared to show that Piastri marginally crossed the white line with all four wheels while not touching enough of the gravel to lose lap time.

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After being demoted to seventh on the grid, the Australian called the situation “embarrassing” given the proximity of the gravel and how that would penalize any driver that goes wider than the exit curb, but the FIA still deletes lap times even if cars go into the gravel because they have left the track.

McLaren’s team principal visited the stewards immediately after the end of the qualifying session to discuss the issue, and the team then lodged an official protest of the results at the Red Bull Ring.

Later, the stewards deemed the protest inadmissible, because a decision of the stewards is not open to protest, and McLaren did not specify any relevant regulations or who the protest was lodged against, as well as addressing it to the wrong administrator.

The outcome of qualifying stands, with Piastri starting from seventh place on Sunday.

Piastri calls track limits situation ‘embarrassing’ after deleted lap time

Oscar Piastri has described the track limits situation at the Austrian Grand Prix “embarrassing” after having his fastest lap time in qualifying deleted for running too wide at Turn 6. Qualifying for the GP appeared to provide the exact same top six …

Oscar Piastri has described the track limits situation at the Austrian Grand Prix “embarrassing” after having his fastest lap time in qualifying deleted for running too wide at Turn 6.

Qualifying for the GP appeared to provide the exact same top six order as sprint qualifying on Friday as Piastri went third behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, but then the Australian had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits. Turn 6 has gravel right up to the exit curb and Piastri almost dipped a wheel in the gravel, but that meant there was just enough space for his car to no longer be in contract with the track edge, and he feels it shouldn’t count as exceeding limits.

“For me it’s embarrassing,” Piastri told Sky Sports. “We do all this work for track limits, put gravel in in places, and I didn’t even go off the track. I stayed on the track, probably my best Turn 6 and it gets deleted. I mean, I don’t know why they’ve spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions, trying to change the last two corners when you still have corners you can go off. But anyway, everyone else kept it in the track, I didn’t — that’s how it goes.

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“For me that was probably the best Turn 6 I took. I was right to the limit of the track. I think that’s what everyone wants to see — again, we’ve spent so much effort trying to get rid of these problems, there is no reason this corner should be an issue for track limits, especially when you stay on the track like I did. Or not, in the gravel.

“Yeah, for me, obviously being the only one that’s had that happen to me I’m probably more vocal about it right now, but I think it’s embarrassing that you see us pushing right to the limit of what we can do and if I’m one centimeter more I’m in the gravel and completely ruin my lap anyway, and it gets deleted.”

Although he believes the gravel trap should police the track limits by penalizing drivers for touching it, Piastri says the need to push to the limits is a positive aspect of how competitive F1 is right now.

“It’s painful. It’s frustrating. But, at the end of the day, it is the same for everybody,” he conceded. “Sometimes you’re on the good end of being a few milliseconds faster, and some weekends you’re on the other end and you’re a few milliseconds slower.

“I saw in Q1 that, I think, from like P6 to P15 was like half a tenth, which I think for the sport is a fantastic thing. But for us as drivers… it makes life tough, and the laps we do out there are really pushing to the absolute limit — or over, it turns out.

“So, I think it’s just a really cool thing for everyone involved. Obviously it makes life at the very front a bit more difficult and you can’t make any mistakes at all. But that’s how Formula 1 should be.”

The McLaren driver is hopeful he can still recover a number of positions from seventh on the grid, given the pace shown in the sprint where he finished second.

“I think we can. It will be tough. I think Max [Verstappen] looked to be a step ahead of everyone [in qualifying],” he said. “It seems very tight between us, Mercedes and Ferrari, I would say. But the pace was good in the sprint, there’s more strategy involved — just more opportunities [in the GP]. So, hopefully, we can try to capitalize on some of them and make some progress back towards the front.”

Verstappen calls 0.4s pole margin ‘a statement’

Max Verstappen describes his advantage in qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix as “a statement” after taking pole position by over 0.4s. The last three qualifying sessions – including Friday’s sprint qualifying – have seen pole position decided by …

Max Verstappen describes his advantage in qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix as “a statement” after taking pole position by over 0.4s.

The last three qualifying sessions — including Friday’s sprint qualifying — have seen pole position decided by under 0.1s as the field has closed up, with Verstappen’s last full pole position coming in Imola. After being fastest in qualifying for the sprint and winning the shorter race, he then took pole in Austria by over 0.4s from Lando Norris and says it shows what Red Bull is capable of.

“It’s been a while since we’ve actually been on pole, so it’s great,” Verstappen said. “It’s a great feeling. The team has been working really hard to try and make the car more competitive. I think this is a great statement, and hopefully we can also show that tomorrow in the race.

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“I think the whole session went really well. The car was in a better window. I could push a bit more, rely on the grip of the car, the balance. It was very enjoyable. I was just trying to progress through Q1 without using a new set, and that worked.

“Then from there, we just tried to fine-tune the balance here and there a little bit. But every lap that I did was feeling good. And then it’s all about trying to just nail every corner. It’s been a while that I’ve felt like this in the car and also looking at the gap, the last few races, I’ve always been very close in front or behind. So this was definitely very positive for the team.”

After a number of races where Red Bull has been challenged by Norris and McLaren, Verstappen is confident the balance he found for qualifying will benefit him across the 71 laps at the Red Bull Ring too.

“It was just a more stable balance, a bit more connected front to rear, and that worked out well,” he said. “I think we made the right changes, and then you can see that it’s little things that sometimes can actually make quite a bit of a difference in lap time. So I’m very happy with that because, like I said before, we haven’t had the easiest of runs and I think pure pace has been a bit harder for us compared to the last two years. So this is definitely very positive for everyone.

“That’s something that I hope is going to be good [for the race] as well, but I will find out tomorrow. I felt like the car just improved a bit balance wise, which hopefully will help the tires tomorrow as well, because it’s still going to be a hot and long race. So you really have to look after the tires, and that’s what we’ll try to do.”

Verstappen continues Austria domination with his 40th GP pole

Max Verstappen dominated qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, blitzing the field by almost half a second to take his 40th pole position in Formula 1. Fresh from cruising from pole to victory in the sprint race earlier today, Verstappen was …

Max Verstappen dominated qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, blitzing the field by almost half a second to take his 40th pole position in Formula 1.

Fresh from cruising from pole to victory in the sprint race earlier today, Verstappen was peerless and imperious throughout the hour qualifying session, setting two lap times in Q3 quick enough for pole position.

The Red Bull driver’s ultimate margin was 0.404s to Lando Norris, who couldn’t follow the reigning champion up the road after having run him close during the sprint sessions.

“The qualifying went really well,” Verstappen said of his first pole position since May’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. “We tried to adjust the car a little bit after the things that we learnt his morning. I think it went well.

“The car felt a lot better for me today. I could really attack the corners a bit more. Every run was just on point. It was very enjoyable out there.

“It’s been a while that we’ve actually been on pole, so it’s great. It’s a great feeling.”

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Norris was satisfied being the best of the rest but appeared pessimistic about McLaren’s chances in the grand prix after Verstappen’s pole domination.

“I think it was as much as we could do today,” he said. “Max was in a league of his own.

“When you look at the pace today, it’s clear that we’re going to have to give it a lot. I’ll try. I’ll do a better job than I did this morning [in the sprint]. It’s a long race. Many things can happen.”

Norris had been set to have McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri behind him in third again, but the Australian had his quickest time deleted for exceeding track limits in a marginal call exiting Turn 6. That promoted George Russell up to third for Mercedes’s third consecutive top-three grand prix qualifying result.

“The car’s feeling really great at the moment,” he said. “It’s definitely going in the right direction for us.”

As was the case for the sprint, Carlos Sainz will split the two Mercedes drivers on the grid, qualifying fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fifth.

Charles Leclerc’s final lap was scrappy, picking up a snap of oversteer at Turn 6 that spit him over the stones and then running off the roar at Turn 9. He had to fall back on his first lap, leaving him sixth.

Piastri ended up seventh after his deleted lap time, but that was still more than enough to stay ahead of Sergio Perez, who was a woeful eighth and 0.888s off the pace around Formula 1’s shortest lap by time.

Nico Hulkenberg qualified ninth for Haas ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

Daniel Ricciardo qualified 11th, missing out on Q3 by just 0.015s, to line up alongside Kevin Magnussen, the Haas driver only 0.058s slower than the under-pressure RB-driving Australian.

Pierre Gasly had set the 12th-fastest time of Q2 but had it deleted for exceeding track limits exiting Turn 6. His previous lap was enough to keep him 13th alongside Yuki Tsunoda in the second RB car. His off-track excursion cause a delay to the start of Q3 to allow marshals to clear up gravel spat onto the circuit.

Fernando Alonso was 0.227s slower than Tsunoda on his way to a lackluster 15th. It’s the fifth time in the last six races the Spaniard has failed to qualify in the top 10 as Aston Martin’s alarming backwards slide continues unabated.

Alex Albon will start 16th in the best-placed Williams ahead of Lance Stroll, the shock knockout in Q1 for Aston Martin.

Valtteri Bottas qualified 18th ahead of Williams driver Logan Sargeant and Sauber teammate Zhou Guanyu. This was the fifth time in the last eight grands prix Zhou has been knocked out 20th, following on from his last-place qualification for the sprint, as his qualifying slump continues.

Norris feeling ‘stupid and silly’ after sprint loss

Lando Norris says he was “stupid and silly” allowing Max Verstappen a chance to regain the lead from him in the Sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix as he dropped to third place. Verstappen led from pole but was under pressure in the early laps on …

Lando Norris says he was “stupid and silly” allowing Max Verstappen a chance to regain the lead from him in the Sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix as he dropped to third place.

Verstappen led from pole but was under pressure in the early laps on Saturday, and Norris overtook the Red Bull into Turn 3 to take the lead. However, Verstappen got him back down the inside into Turn 4 in a move that allowed Oscar Piastri to follow Verstappen through and take second place, with the positions remaining unchanged until the finish.

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“It was a good battle,” Norris said. “I knew there were not going to be too many opportunities to try and do it, so I had to go for a bit of a move into Turn 3, and then I was just pretty stupid into Turn 4 and left the door open. So not a lot to be honest, was two corners we battled, and that was it and then Oscar managed to come past.

“So I tried, obviously it didn’t go to plan, but the pace in the car was pretty good and I think we gave it a good shot but it wasn’t quite enough today. It was nice to have two cars up there, nice to have two cars trying to fight against Max, and that’s what we need on Sunday.

“We’re saying this every weekend now so I’m not going to say it again … but I needed to do a better job and I just did something pretty stupid and silly which was not very smart of me. But no, I think a good amount of points, it could have been a lot worse and for the team it was still a good result and the result we wanted, so I’m happy, but I need to do things better.”

Norris believes McLaren needs to find a little bit more performance ahead of qualifying to try and beat Verstappen to pole later on Saturday and change the picture heading into the race, but says he’ll also try and learn from his own driving for future battles too.

“Not much. It’s tiny, tiny things. I think as a race car we’re still missing a tiny bit but that’s not my excuse. For today I think nothing more than Turn 4, I think if I just defended and didn’t leave the door open a different story would have happened. That might have been just one corner and Max would probably have attacked me again the next lap. I don’t know, there’s nothing in particular.

“I mean, I’m not feeling great, and it’s still those little opportunities I just feel like I miss out on and in hindsight I think ‘how stupid was I to do some of the things that I’ve done?’ but at the same time I’m doing the best I can when I’m on the track.

“So I don’t necessarily think about what people are thinking from the outside, I know I’ve done things that are not good enough and things that aren’t at the level that they need to be, and I’m doing my best to improve on them. That’s all I can do for now.”

Norris was audibly not at full health and coughed on a number of occasions when speaking after the Sprint, but says he’s not unwell enough for it to notably impact his performance.

“I can’t say how much it’s affecting me. It’s not helping, that’s probably the main thing, but I wouldn’t say anything that’s changing my performance on track. It’s not to that level. So just talking, so stop asking me stuff and I’ll be happy! Nothing that’s affecting me I don’t think, but small things away from the track and just being tired and not sleeping good and that kind of stuff. So I’m sure a little bit, but nothing that I would use as an excuse to help me on track.”

Verstappen beats Piastri in Austria GP sprint race

Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix sprint from pole after fending off front-row starter Lando Norris in an early duel. The sprint was reduced by a lap after an aborted start owing to photographers standing behind the barriers at Turn 1, and …

Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix sprint from pole after fending off front-row starter Lando Norris in an early duel.

The sprint was reduced by a lap after an aborted start owing to photographers standing behind the barriers at Turn 1, and Verstappen had no trouble keeping Norris at bay off the line when the race eventually got going. But Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri, starting third, clung close to the back of the Red Bull Racing car, the advantage of which was notably reduced without the benefit of DRS. It was a great boost to the chasing McLarens, who were both able to click open their drag reduction systems at the end of the first lap to harry the championship leader.

Norris was the fastest man on track on the second lap, but his looks on either side of the Dutchman at the top of the hill at Turn 3 were deftly closed, holding him and Piastri at bay. It took a deep lunge from a long way back on lap 5 to force the issue, with Norris block passing down Verstappen inside at Turn 3 to relieve him of position.

It was to be short lived, however. Norris ran wide, and Verstappen was able to get a strong launch off the corner to run side by side on the run down to Turn 4, where he pried open the door down the inside of the downhill right-hander to take back the lead.

It caught Norris unawares, so much so that an opportunistic Piastri was able to barge through the open door after Verstappen. The two teammates were neck and neck down to Turn 6, where a gutsy move around the outside confirmed Piastri in second and bumped Norris down to third.

It was Piastri’s turn to chase the lead, but it was a forlorn pursuit. By lap 9 the Dutchman’s lead stretch just over 1s, and without DRS the chasing McLarens were unable to follow him up the road. It was a cruise for the title leader form there, with Verstappen claiming victory by 4.6s.

“Once DRS opens, it’s very hard to get out of it,” Verstappen said. “It took a few laps – a few exciting battles as well.

“You could see two cars pushing flat out trying to make it difficult for me. We had to work for it in that race.”

Norris dropped back from Piastri through the middle phase of the race but closed back in the final laps to pressure his teammate to cough up second place. The Australian wouldn’t be defeated, however, to take his best sprint finish and equal best finish in any session of the season.

“I finished one spot higher than I started but didn’t quite have good pace in the second half of that one,” he said. “Some things to look at for this afternoon and for tomorrow’s race, but we’ll definitely take the points. It’s a good haul.”

Norris was disappointed to have lost two positions in as many corners, but he was left optimistic that his team could close the gap to the front for Sunday’s grand prix.

“A good race between us, especially with Max at the beginning,” he said. “There were some things I definitely should have done better in my battle, but I understand that.

“The pace of the car was very strong, especially at the end of the race. I don’t think we probably would’ve had the pace to go with Max … but tomorrow’s another day, and we’ll try again.”

George Russell lost fourth place to Carlos Sainz on the first lap, but by lap 8 the Mercedes driver had resumed the position, leading home the Spaniard and teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Charles Leclerc gained three places off the line to finish seventh ahead of a wayward Sergio Perez, who crossed the line a lonely eighth for the final point of the sprint.

Kevin Magnussen has a strong race to ninth, up two places on the grid, ahead of Lance Stroll, likewise up a pair of places. Those gains came at the expense of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, both down three places on the first lap.

Yuki Tsunoda finished 13th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who will see the stewards after the race for forcing Fernando Alonso off track late in the race at Turn 3, costing the Spaniard a place to Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian and Spaniard finishing 15th and 16th.

Logan Sargeant finished 17th ahead of teammate Alex Albon, who started from pit lane with setup changes, and Sauber teammates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

Verstappen eager to test Red Bull pace vs McLaren in sprint

Max Verstappen says the sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix will give a telling indication of the relative pace differences between Red Bull and McLaren this weekend. McLaren has consistently been a threat to Red Bull since introducing an upgrade in …

Max Verstappen says the sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix will give a telling indication of the relative pace differences between Red Bull and McLaren this weekend.

McLaren has consistently been a threat to Red Bull since introducing an upgrade in Miami, with Lando Norris winning in Florida and then finishing second to Verstappen in Imola, Canada and Spain. After taking pole position for Saturday’s sprint by under 0.1s from Norris once again, Verstappen says the trend appears to be continuing but he’s keen to learn more in the shorter race.

“We started off the day well, the car was already in a good window — a little niggle with the sensor but we fixed that quickly — and then heading into qualifying I think the car was pretty strong. I could push,” Verstappen said. “Of course there are always areas where we can do better, so we’ll look at that tonight, but definitely a good start to the weekend.

“At the end of the day, when really everyone is pushing flat out [McLaren] are again behind me, so for sure they are quick as well. We seem quick in the high speed, which is nice around here, hopefully we can keep that going also tomorrow, but of course the sprint race will give us an early indication of how the pace will be in the race for every car so I’m looking forward to that.”

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Norris had a similar outlook to Verstappen having looked most competitive in the final part of sprint qualifying compared to the earlier phases, and he says he’s confident he can take the fight to the Red Bull driver over the 24 laps.

“I think reasonably good, to be honest — I never got quite comfortable until probably my final lap,” Norris said. “So I’m happy with that. Close, as it has been the whole year, so no difference, but it must have been a nice lap by Max and a good position for the race tomorrow.”

Oscar Piastri will start from third as both McLarens secured strong grid positions, and the Australian says it was a relief to bounce back from a challenging weekend in Barcelona.

“The position is quite good obviously but the last lap, there were a couple of corners I could tidy up,” Piastri said. “It’s nice to at least know where the time is — obviously a bit of a rough one last weekend, so I feel like we’re back on the pace. The new front wing was working well, so excited for the rest of the weekend now.

“The gap to Max is not massive and I know there were a couple of big mistakes on that lap, so we’re definitely in the mix.”

Horner labels Wolff’s talk of signing Verstappen a ‘distraction tactic’

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes his Mercedes opposite number Toto Wolff has been talking about the potential of signing Max Verstappen to try and distract from his own team’s recent struggles. Verstappen (at right, above, with …

Verstappen (at right, above, with Horner and Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko, at left) was linked to a possible move to Mercedes earlier this year amid the controversy surrounding Horner’s behavior and a wider power battle within Red Bull, with Wolff publicly stating he’d like to sign the three-time world champion to replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton. After Verstappen insisted he would be driving for Red Bull in 2025, Wolff still questioned whether that was the case, but Horner says there’s no chance the Dutchman will be racing for Mercedes next year.

“It only re-affirms everything that we already know,” Horner said. “Max is an important part of our team. He’s had all of his victories and podiums in Red Bull Racing cars, his three world championships so far, and he’s a crucial member of the team. He enjoys being part of the team. He’s got a tremendous group around him. And we know what the future looks like.

“Obviously, a lot of noise has been made about him going elsewhere. And sometimes, one just thinks that that’s a distraction tactic that’s just thrown in because you have to question what are the motives obviously behind that.

“The driver that’s created all the movement in the market had all the information about the engines and 2026 regulations and so on and chose to leave and left the vacancy at Mercedes, which is why there has now been obviously a little bit of speculation as to who will fill that seat. But it won’t be Max Verstappen.”

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Horner was pressed on his relationship with Jos Verstappen — Max’s father — who is at the Austrian Grand Prix and scheduled to take part in a legends parade for Red Bull, but while he wouldn’t be drawn on his personal relationship with Verstappen Sr., he did joke that he could be the one to join Mercedes.

“The relationship with Max has always been very good, very strong. He’s a key part of our team and he’s our driver. He’s the one that is important, obviously, to have a strong relationship with. I’ve never had an issue with any of our drivers’ fathers in the past. And whatever Jos’s issues are, I’ve really got nothing to comment on.

“I thought Max was pretty resolute in what he said. He’s always been absolutely consistent with that with the team. So, yeah, why Toto? I think it’s purely a tactic of distraction. Of course, if he does want a Verstappen for next year, then I guess Jos is potentially available.”

Leclerc perplexed by SQ3 issue that prevented attempt

Charles Leclerc says he doesn’t know what caused his car to shut down in the pit lane and prevented him from setting a lap time in SQ3 at the Austrian Grand Prix. The final part of sprint qualifying saw all 10 drivers waiting until the final few …

Charles Leclerc says he doesn’t know what caused his car to shut down in the pit lane and prevented him from setting a lap time in SQ3 at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The final part of sprint qualifying saw all 10 drivers waiting until the final few minutes to start the one attempt, both to save a set of tires but also due to the lack of time to go out and complete two runs in most of the shortened sessions. Leclerc had left the Ferrari garage but then came to a halt in the pit lane before moving once again, but he just ran out of time to start a timed lap before the checkered flag came out.

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“I don’t know what happened,” Leclerc said. “I was in the pit lane and I got the anti-stall and then everything switched off.

“We weren’t super strong, but definitely better than P10 [was possible] so it’s a bit disappointing. But we’ll look at what happened and tomorrow we’ll try to have a good sprint race to come back to the front.”

Teammate Carlos Sainz secured fifth place on the grid for Saturday’s sprint, but says there is work to do ahead of the main qualifying session too.

“I had a decent sprint qualifying, I think I was on it since Q1, Q2 and Q3,” Sainz said. “Three very clean laps in qualifying. Unfortunately, already in FP1 on softs we look a bit weaker than on the harder compounds, and then when we put that soft on at the end, from maybe thinking top three was possible, we are P5.

“But we had the same in FP1 where we were P6 or something like that on softs, so something to look into. Unfortunately, right now this is more or less where we are.

“I’m hoping that we can move forward a little. Starting P5, clean side of the grid, we’re going to go for it and try to get as maximum points as possible tomorrow. And then we have another qualifying where we still need to do some fine-tuning on the car.”

Verstappen beats Norris to pole for Austrian GP sprint

Max Verstappen will start the Austria sprint race from pole position after claiming top spot in Friday qualifying from growing rival Lando Norris. The sprint qualifying rules left enough time for just one lap per driver in the top 10, and the …

Max Verstappen will start the Austria sprint race from pole position after claiming top spot in Friday qualifying from growing rival Lando Norris.

The sprint qualifying rules left enough time for just one lap per driver in the top 10, and the session rapidly boiled down to being a straight fight between Verstappen and Norris, the only two drivers to have taken poles in sprint races so far this season.

Norris was the first between them over the line, gapping the field — led by McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri — by 0.208s. Verstappen followed him shortly afterwards, and having set purple sectors in the first and last splits by slender margins, he pipped Norris by 0.093s for his second sprint pole of the season.

“It’s been a good day so far,” he said. “It’s nice to drive the car. I think immediately the car was well balanced.

“Everything has been working really well — a good start to the weekend. I’m happy with today.”

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Norris will start ahead of Piastri and Mercedes driver George Russell, who was 0.368s off the pace.

Carlos Sainz qualified fifth and 0.44s back as the only Ferrari driver who set a time in the top-10 shootout. Charles Leclerc was forced to stop in pit lane with what appeared to be a tripped anti-stall system, and though he was able to restart and join the session, he missed the checkered flag by a matter of seconds, leaving him 10th without a time.

Lewis Hamilton qualified sixth after a scrappy qualifying session that almost saw him eliminate in SQ1 after running off the track exiting Turn 6. He was 0.584s off the pace.

Sergio Perez underwhelmed for Red Bull Racing in seventh and 1.322s adrift, beating Alpine’s Esteban Ocon by less than 0.1s, with Pierre Gasly in the sister French car trailing further back in ninth ahead of the lapless Leclerc.

Kevin Magnussen was only 0.049s shy of a top-10 berth after a last-gasp lap at the end of SQ2, qualifying 11th.

Lance Stroll outqualified teammate Fernando Alonso by 0.031s. It’s the sixth time this year that the newly re-signed Stroll qualified ahead of Alonso in a grand prix or sprint qualifying session, bringing his head-to-head tally to 6-7 in the Spaniard’s favor — and 2-1 in his favor for sprints — on another disappointing afternoon of underperformance for Aston Martin.

Yuki Tsunoda qualified 14th ahead of Logan Sargeant in 15th after having both his SQ2 laps deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 6.

It’s only the second time Sargeant has outqualified teammate Alex Albon in his more than a season alongside the Thai driver at Williams, the previous occasion being sprint qualifying in Miami earlier this year.

Daniel Ricciardo will line up 16th, having missed out on progression by just 0.024s to teammate Tsunoda. It’s a stark comedown for the Australian, who qualified fourth for the previous sprint in Miami and who is fighting to retain his seat at RB.

Nico Hulkenberg will line up 17th ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Albon, while Zhou Guanyu qualified last for the fourth time in the last six qualifying sessions, the Chinese driver 0.443s off the back of the pack.