F1 track limits dominate Austria GP qualifying — 'I'm just surviving' says Verstappen

A frenetic qualifying session saw Max Verstappen secure yet another pole position for the Austrian GP, with Charles Leclerc — despite wringing every ounce out of his Ferrari — still not quite fast enough to prevent the march of the Dutchman, who claimed he was “just surviving”.

The Monégasque was less than 0.1sec slower than the Red Bull‘s fastest time and Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz was within two-tenths, but other rivals suffered massively due to a multitude of track limits infringements.

“We don’t do this on purpose,” said Verstappen afterwards. “But with these speeds and all these high-speed corners, you still have to judge the white line. And that’s why I think you could see today a lot of people are getting caught out, including myself so, honestly, it was about surviving.”

“I don’t think we expected it to be so close to Red Bull, so it’s a good step forward,” commented Leclerc.

“It’s only qualifying but the work they’ve [the team] done in the last two, three weeks in order to bring the package earlier than what was plan was really, really impressive – and that helped us to have a good performance today. Now we need to confirm that in the race.”

Sergio Perez had three consecutive laps deleted in Q2, meaning he’ll start 15th, and George Russell found his Mercedes noncompliant, leaving him 11th.

McLaren‘s new updates on Lando Norris‘s car appeared to work as he went fourth fastest, although the Brit said he “crapped” himself as he tried not to go wide in the final corner.

“As a driver I’m [always] complaining because I could have been P3, I made a little mistake, but I’m happy nevertheless,” Norris admitted. “I’m a bit annoyed by because I would have loved to beat Carlos.”

Lance Stroll out-qualified Aston Martin team-mate Fernando Alonso for only the second time this season – they’ll line-up sixth and seventh behind Lewis Hamilton, while Nico Hülkenberg, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon round out the top ten.

Here’s how qualifying happened:

Q1

Q1 was disrupted early due to a spin for Valtteri Bottas, who was briefly beached on the inside of Turn 1 after spinning over the sausage kerbs.

The session was red-flagged as a result, with several big names having their fastest times deleted due to track limits infringements and ten minutes remaining to set a fast time.

This included Verstappen and Hamilton, with some frantic times set under brooding skies.

Ultimately it was the Dutchman with a 1min 05.116sec who topped the table, with his compatriot Nyck De Vries rooted to the bottom.

Also knocked out was his AlphaTauri team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in 16th, Zhou Guanyu in 17th, Logan Sargeant in 18th and a disappointed Kevin Magnussen in 19th.

Q2

Verstappen clocked a 1min 04.955 lap quickly, but it was immediately deleted due to track limits.

Perez suffered the same fate, putting Norris at the top on a 1min 05.38sec, with Hülkenberg three tenths off.

Others tried to get close to Norris, with the best in Gasly getting within 0.270sec.

Verstappen eventually pushed the McLaren down into second by going just under a tenth quicker, before Sainz managed to sneak into second.

The drama then began to unfold as the session reached its closing stages, with Perez labouring more than most.

After having his fast lap deleted twice for running wide at the final corner, the Mexican thought he’d made it into Q3 with a time just off Verstappen – but then that was erased too for the same reason, leaving him eliminated in 15th. Perez later claimed he was blocked on his final run by Albon.

George Russell was unable to get out of Q2 either – he’ll start 11th tomorrow.

Ocon will line-up 12th, Piastri 13th and Bottas 14th.

Q3

Verstappen laid down an early gauntlet with a 1min 04.503sec, with Leclerc two tenths further back.

Alonso could only put in a lap a slower second than the Red Bull due to using old soft tyres, but Hamilton pipped him by 0.5sec.

Norris impressed by going with half a second off Verstappen on old tyres, with Albon only slightly slower – but then suffering a lap time deletion for track limits.

As the final runs commenced, the Dutchman filed a 1min 04.391sec, and the rest laboured to get close.

Norris was 0.267sec slower in third, Sainz went second, before Leclerc held on for dear life as his Ferrari slithered through the final two corners to depose them both.

Hamilton had looked quick throughout the session, but ultimately was eventually only good enough for fifth.

2023 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying results