Austrian Grand Prix 2025 Qualifying: Lando Norris takes rare pole for McLaren, Charles Leclerc edges out Oscar Piastri for second

The Qualifying race for the Austrian Grand Prix 2025 was held at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday evening, and it was McLaren’s Lando Norris who grabbed the pole position. His teammate and this season’s leading F1 driver, Oscar Piastri, settled for third position.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was almost the first one to cross the finish line, but Norris managed to beat him by half a second and grab the pole. But Leclerc is glad to be able to start on the front row.

Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto impress in Austrian Qualifying

Lando Norris' pole is McLaren's first pole in Austria after 25 years. Also, it was not just Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who put up an impressive show in the Austrian Qualifying on Saturday. His new teammate, Lewis Hamilton, also grabbed the fourth position.

He was followed by Mercedes driver George Russell in fifth position.Talking about claiming second place on the grid, Leclerc told Formula1.com, “I'm very pleased. It has been a long time since we started on the front row. It has been a difficult season overall, but the team kept pushing. We brought some new parts this weekend that have made a difference. We normally have a better car in the race than in Qualifying, so hopefully we can put some pressure on McLaren tomorrow.”

However, it was Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson who did the unimaginable by beating his old Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen to take the sixth position in the Qualifying. Verstappen settled for the seventh position. He was followed by Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto in eighth place. Bortoleto also deserves praise for getting through Q3 for the first time while still being a rookie.Promising Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli couldn’t do well in FP1 and FP2 but grabbed seventh spot in FP3.

However, he again had to settle for ninth place in the Qualifying. He will be followed by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in tenth place on the grid for the Austrian Grand Prix final on Sunday.Red flags were brought out as a small patch of grass was seen on fire at the start/finish straight in Q2. The Qualifying started five minutes late as the free practice session ended slightly late due to a crash at Turn 3 at the end of the session.Also Read: Austrian Grand Prix 2025: George Russell tops FP1, McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri dominate FP2The Austrian Grand Prix final will take place on Sunday at 3 p.m. local time (6:30 p.m. IST) after an air display of aircraft at the Red Bull Ring.