Lando Norris ends 25-year McLaren drought with stunning Austrian GP pole

Lando Norris demolished the F1 field to roar to pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix, earning pole by over half-a-second. 

Having dominated throughout practice and topping Q1 and Q2, Norris put the gauntlet down with a 1:04.268 and lowered this by nearly three-tenths to a 1:03.971s to bank a third pole of the season. 

The 0.521s gap is the largest pole margin of the season, with Charles Leclerc on the front-row ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton - who earned his best grid position in a grand prix for Ferrari.

Norris's pole is the first for McLaren in Austria since David Coulthard 25 years ago in 2000, with Max Verstappen not even the best Red Bull-affiliated driver, as Liam Lawson out-qualified his former team-mate in sixth, with Verstappen seventh. 

Q3

After the first Q3 runs, Norris had a 1:04.268 as his benchmark time, with Leclerc splitting the two McLarens.

However, on the second runs, Piastri was caught out by a brief yellow flag, meaning he could not start his final lap after Gasly spun the opening lap. 

Norris was able to lower his time to a 1:03.971s, 0.297s faster to earn pole by 0.521s, the largest pole margin of the season.

Piastri was third ahead of Hamilton, with Verstappen down in seventh, having been out-qualified by Lawson in sixth. 

Russell, who was fifth, will be investigated post-session for an unsafe release in the pit-lane in Q3.

Alonso falls in red-flagged Q2

In Q2, the session was briefly red-flagged after Hamilton ran wide out of the final corner, sparking a brief grass fire, leaving 5:42 left the clock.

After the resumption, Fernando Alonso became the first driver to be eliminated in P11, 0.086s slower than Antonelli in P10. 

A late flyer was from Gasly in P6 was enough to demote Alonso, with Alex Albon, Isack Hadjar, Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman all eliminated.

Up front, Norris topped the segment once again from Piastri, with Leclerc third and Bortoleto impressing mightily with fifth. 

Norris and Leclerc were also noted for a impeding incident at Turn 2. 

Yet more misery for Tsunoda in Q1

The big story of Q1 was that Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated, despite only being 0.263s slower than Verstappen.

Verstappen placed sixth in the segment, but Tsunoda was 18th and out despite the slender margin on paper, which on such a short track as Austria is a big difference. 

Lance Stroll could not capitalise on his strong practice pace, and was eliminated in 16th, along with Esteban Ocon in 17th. 

Carlos Sainz made it a hat-trick of Q1 eliminations for Williams in 19th, with Nico Hulkenberg the slowest of all in 20th.

Up front, Norris topped the segment by 0.294s from Piastri, who made a mistake on his first Q1 lap, with Lawson recording his first top-three appearances of any session in third.