Formula 1 News: Lando Norris wins pole for 2025 GP of Austria

McLaren driver Lando Norris turned a lap of 1m03.971s to win the pole for the 2025 Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The superior McLaren ended up a massive 0.521s faster than 2nd fastest, Charles Leclerc in the #16 Ferrari.

“It was a good lap, that’s for sure,” said Norris. “It was just little bit by little bit, my Q3 run one was good, but I knew there were some little places to improve.

“Very happy, a good day, a good weekend for me so hopefully I can keep it up.

“It is a long season. I savor this moment, it is pleasing for myself, but it is a long race tomorrow.”

The McLarens are so much faster than everyone else, on Sunday it will be a walk in the park for them, especially Norris.  Oscar Piastri in the #81 McLaren  was third, 0.583s behind Norris, but he was not able to do his first lap because Pierre Gasly brought out a yellow when he spun.

“I’m very pleased. It has been a long time since we started on the front row,” said Leclerc.

“It has been a difficult season overall, but the tam kept pushing, we brought some new parts this weekend that have made a difference.

“We normally have a better car in the race than Qualifying, so hopefully we can put some pressure on McLaren tomorrow.”

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Lewis Hamilton was 4th in the 2nd Ferrari, 0.611s behind Norris.

George Russell rounded out the top-5 for Mercedes, 0.792s behind Norris.

Liam Lawson had his best qualifying of the year in 6th 0.955s behind Norris.

The Red Bull RB21 sled was so slow Yuki Tsunoda was out in Q1 and Max Verstappen only managed to qualify 7th, 0.958s behind Norris, but he did have to slow for a yellow flag on a lap they should have put him on the 2nd row.

There are some recovery drives needed from Red Bull on home soil, and their fans will be hoping they set their car up more with the race in mind.

“So far this weekend it has not been the easiest, FP3 earlier today was more positive than qualifying but we were still off the pace and the hotter weather conditions didn’t help,” lamented Verstappen.

“Our balance was off and there isn’t much that you can do about it once you feel it out on track, that was similar to the situation with our grip, it was difficult to know whether to push the car or not. Pierre spun out which caused a yellow flag and that certainly didn’t help us as I had to abort the lap. Even if I had completed it, it still would have only put me around P3 or P4 which would still have been five or six tenths off pole.

“I don’t think that it will be easy out there tomorrow, but we will analyze everything post quali to give us the best chance in the race tomorrow.”

2025 Austrian GP Qualifying Results