How Lando Norris demolished the opposition in Austria

McLaren quickly became the favourite for pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix after finishing second and third practice with a one-two; however, a battle between its two drivers was at least expected.

Oscar Piastri had no answer to Lando Norris in qualifying, with the Briton having demolished the opposition. Norris was the only driver to break into the 1m 03s, resulting in an advantage of over five-tenths.

It was a staggering performance by the McLaren driver, particularly given the short duration of the lap at the Red Bull Ring. The track consists of just 10 corners and has a high average speed, making the difference in lap times usually very small.

Charles Leclerc secured second on the grid for Ferrari, but was comfortably adrift of Norris in the second sector. Norris found three-tenths on Leclerc alone in the second sector, consisting of only four corners. It was the same for Norris over Piastri; however, the latter's final lap time was heavily impacted by a spin at the final corner for Pierre Gasly.

When looking at the data, it is clear that Norris consistently braked later than Leclerc and Max Verstappen and still carried more speed into the corners. It did impact his exit speed compared to his rivals, but, overall, the approach worked.

View the data of Norris, Leclerc, Piastri and Verstappen below. The text continues after that.

Red Bull horror show

For Red Bull, qualifying was a disaster on home soil. Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated in Q1 once again, whilst Verstappen had to settle for seventh. The Dutchman's final lap was looking good enough for third; however, Gasly's spin forced him to back out. 

Despite this, the 27-year-old's deficit to Norris remains significant, caused by an imbalance in particular corners. Verstappen said: "The final lap was just bad luck, but the whole thing was terrible. The car had no balance at all. It was really difficult—just no grip in any corner, so it wasn’t enjoyable to drive."

The Milton Keynes-based outfit had entered qualifying feeling optimistic after looking good in every practice session. Verstappen had been close to the McLarens, raising expectation that he could fight for pole. 

Between third practice and qualifying, something drastically changed for the Austrian team, with even Red Bull's top speed having reduced, an area it is usually the strongest. Verstappen does have good race pace, but fighting through the field from seventh will be a huge test on what is expected to be a scorching day in Styria.

View the top speeds from qualifying below!