Hallo, MiniFans! We’ve landed in Austria, more precisely the Red Bull Ring, and that means we’ll see a very tight qualifying. The short length of asphalt, which translates into a lap that barely goes over a minute, tends to offer qualifying fights that are so close together you can never count anyone out.
There was no rush whatsoever to get onto the track, with drivers wasting a handful of minutes at the start of Q1. It was mostly those fighting to get through to Q2 that hit the tarmac first, in an attempt to squeeze three full stints in to try and manage both traffic and the high heat of the track surface. This didn’t mean they would set a time then, as many did go back into the pits without even doing a full lap, but they’d soon be joined by the rest of the grid. As soon as everyone was out, the order seen during the free practices was replicated at the top, with both McLarens, led by Norris, and Verstappen.
The track improvement was proving to be steep, with backmarkets shooting up as hhigh as fifth on the timing tower, sowing nerves through the teams. Alonso managed to match Leclerc’s lap to the thousandth, whereas Russell needed to get himself out of a bit of a pickle, as he had dropped to 15th before launching his last attempt. There weren’t as many position changes as expected, as many mistakes were made under pressure. The most notable of these were both Tsunoda and Sainz, the latter of whom complained about the car being undriveable, as his load and grip were nowhere to be found. The eliminated drivers in Q1 were Stroll (P16), Ocon (P17), Tsunoda (^18), Sainz (P19) and Hulkenberg (P20).
Ferrari was so keen to go on track in Q2 that they started to queue up on their own in the fastlane before the light was green. As they were sporting used tyres, they were probably getting to know the grip and track evolution before the real fight would begin. As per usual, it was Verstappen at the front before McLaren let their drivers loose to score purple sectors as if it were the easiest task in the world. Red Bull’s not-great performance was aired on the radio by Verstappen, whose usual engineer isn’t at the race, right before we were granted a brief intermission in the shape of a red flag.
A bit confusing at first, because no car seemed to have crashed or be still, it was soon easy to see the reason why the clock had been halted: a patch of grass was in flames, likely a result of being struck by sparks producef by a car. It was swiftly dealt with and a green flag signaled the restart of the session. New tyres were fitted on and with barely three minutes on the clock, everyone was slowly trickling out in hopes of not coming into traffic in their attempt. An incredible lap by Bortoleto got him into third before Verstappen pushed him down to fourth by a tenth, but no one else moved him. Neither Mercedes could beat him, with Antonelli barely making it through by a handful of thousandths that pushed Alonso out of Q3. The eliminated drivers in Q2 were Alonso (P11), Albon (P12), Hadjar (P13), Colapinto (P14) and Bearman (P15).
The queue was present once again at the start of the session, but the interest lay in whether Piastri could take the fight to Norris. The Australian is known for building up his weekend, starting from a lower performance to find the pace and ending on a high nore, so the pole wasn’t quite yet claimed by any driver in particular. It did seem as if it had been claimed by a team, as not even Verstappen has been able to catch up to them, despite being the one closest all weekend. Leclerc caugh eyes in the first stint, as he managed to split the papaya team, but Verstappen’s attempt in used softs didn’t help to see a clear picture.
The second stint did have everyone on fresh softs, levelling the playing field in a way. A very brief double yellow flag caused by Gasly interfered as much as the dirt he pushed onto the track did, as a handful of drivers, including Piastri and Verstappen, slowed down in the turn, avoinding it and thus not being able to improve their times. This made it so only a few could improve their times, including Norris to confirm his pole position, Bortoleto to get an eighth place and Lawson to climb to sixth, while the second Red Bull had been left in the dirt in Q1.
The qualifying results had been written on stone for a while during the weekend. Aside from notable occurrences, like Bortoleto’s first Q3 of the year, it seemed to be crystal clear from the start who the contenders were. Flashes of orange were glimpsed among the rest of the cars, managing to make a difference in a track so short that a mere tenth can house a dozen of drivers. It was clear the Verstappen streak of four consecutive pole positions was to be broken, but the fact that a McLaren 1-2 isn’t what we ended up with, as they were split by Leclerc’s Ferrari, is likely the bigger story to tell, alongisde Verstappen’s seventh grid position that sets up for a fun time watching him try to get back to the front.
MiniDrivers – 2025 Austrian GP
Qualifying
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