Lando Norris puts McLaren on pole in Austria ahead of Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri

McLaren's Lando Norris (centre) celebrates after qualifying in pole position alongside Ferrari's Charles Leclerc (in red) who qualifies in second place and McLaren's Oscar Piastri who qualifies in third place. PHOTO: REUTERS

UPDATED Jun 29, 2025, 02:39 AM

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SPIELBERG, Austria – Lando Norris bounced back from his collision in Canada to put McLaren on pole position for the Austrian Formula One Grand Prix on June 28, as championship-leading teammate Oscar Piastri qualified third.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc joined Norris on the front row with teammate Lewis Hamilton fourth, raising the Italian team’s hopes after a difficult weekend.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen qualified only seventh at his team’s home circuit after pulling out of his final flying effort when Alpine’s Pierre Gasly spun at the last corner and briefly brought out yellow flags.

Piastri was also forced to bail but had been slower than Norris in both of the first two phases.

Norris, who needs a strong result after a collision with Piastri in Canada two weeks ago, is 22 points behind the Australian in the championship after 10 of 24 races.

“I did what I planned to do and when I plan to do something and it goes right, it normally goes very, very well,” said the Briton.

“A good day and it has been a good weekend for me so far, so hopefully we can keep it up.”

The pole was his third of the season and he won both of the previous two with fastest lap in Australia and Monaco.

But on race day, he will also have to fend off the pressure from Leclerc, who said: “We’ve brought some new parts this weekend, which for sure made a difference because if you look at the gaps, everybody is super close, it’s also thanks to the team.

“We know that we have a better car normally in the race than qualifying, so I hope that we can put more pressure on the McLaren.”

George Russell, the 2024 race winner, qualified fifth for Mercedes and kept the place after stewards gave him a warning for a pit-lane breach.

Liam Lawson will line up sixth for Racing Bulls, ahead of Verstappen, with Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto making it into the final phase for the first time and qualifying eighth for Sauber.

Verstappen said: “(Practice 3) wasn’t too bad, but somehow in qualifying, it just completely disappeared, there wasn’t a single corner where I felt happy with the car. That is of course a big problem with qualifying.”

Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli was ninth fastest for Mercedes and Gasly completed the top 10.

The second phase of qualifying was red-flagged when the trackside grass at turn 10 caught fire, the latest of a series of such incidents.

The governing FIA said the fire was caused by a car going off track, rather than by sparks from the titanium skid blocks, and carried out additional dampening of the grass before the final top 10 shoot-out.

Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda and Williams’ Carlos Sainz made early exits, neither getting through the opening phase.

“There’s damage in the car, for sure. The car is undriveable ... it’s pulling under braking, no load in high speed,” said Sainz, who qualified 19th with only Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg behind.

He explained later that the team had put new brakes on the car for qualifying, as usual, but it started pulling to one side immediately.

Meanwhile, former Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo has joined the board of historic rivals McLaren, a move that would have been unimaginable not so long ago.

The 77-year-old Italian, who presided over the F1 team during a golden era when Michael Schumacher won five of his career seven titles from 2000 to 2004, had served as chairman of both Ferrari and parent Fiat.

He left Ferrari in 2014 to focus on other business interests. Both sides are under different management now.

News of Montezemolo’s new role was greeted with some amazement in Italy.

“Montezemolo-McLaren: What a slap in the face to Ferrari,” said sports newspaper Tuttosport in a headline.

Ansa news agency quoted Montezemolo as saying his heart “is and always will be red” and his new role was on the automotive side and did not involve F1. REUTERS

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