RUSSELL TAKES POLE IN A CHAOTIC FINAL SESSION
The qualifying session in Austria started in very hot conditions, with track temperatures reaching extreme levels. Mercedes immediately looked strong, with Kimi Antonelli setting the early pace and going quickest in the opening runs. Lando Norris briefly challenged but could not match the Mercedes time, while Lewis Hamilton stayed close behind in the top group.
George Russell began his session in solid but not perfect form, placing inside the top five but without fully showing his pace yet. Red Bull and Ferrari both looked competitive but not fully sharp in the opening stage, as teams focused on getting clean laps rather than pushing to the limit.
As the session developed, the midfield battle became intense, but there were no major surprises at the top. However, several teams struggled badly. Both Williams cars were eliminated, along with both Aston Martins and both Cadillac entries, ending their qualifying early and leaving them out of Q2.
In Q2, all drivers switched to soft tyres for the first real push for Q3. Antonelli again showed impressive pace and set the benchmark with a strong lap, confirming his form from Q1. McLaren stayed close with Oscar Piastri in second, while Ferrari placed both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton inside the top group using used soft tyres.
George Russell had a messy first run after a mistake in the first sector on new tyres, losing a lot of time. Mercedes told him over radio to stay calm and focus on driving clean laps. On his second attempt, Russell recovered well and moved back up into the top positions, securing a safe place in Q3.
Red Bull made a strategic gamble by keeping Max Verstappen in the garage to save a new set of soft tyres. The risk paid off barely, as Verstappen progressed to Q3 by just a small margin. Pierre Gasly missed out in eleventh by only 40 milliseconds, making it a very painful elimination.
Other drivers out in Q2 included Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman, Nico Hülkenberg, Esteban Ocon, and Franco Colapinto, all unable to reach the final stage.
Q3 started with all top drivers waiting for the right moment to attack. The first runs immediately showed how close the fight was. Antonelli once again went fastest, showing incredible consistency, with Russell only 43 thousandths behind him. Verstappen placed third, missing out on an even better time due to a small loss in the final sector. Piastri and Leclerc completed the early top five.
Hamilton made a mistake in Turn 3 during his first push lap and was unable to complete a strong second attempt after being denied a final run by Ferrari over the radio. Ferrari briefly moved into a strong position with Leclerc ahead of Hamilton, looking like they could secure a front-row lockout.
Everything changed in the final moments. Max Verstappen crashed into the barriers during his last flying lap, triggering yellow flags across the circuit. Antonelli, who was leading the session at that point, lifted off and abandoned his lap, dropping to fourth place.
George Russell, however, improved his lap time after the yellow flag situation and moved into first place. Because his improvement came under controversial timing conditions, the result was questioned immediately, but it stood as provisional pole.
Ferrari finished close behind with Leclerc and Hamilton, just missing out on pole position in a very tight finish.
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