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Another Sprint
Qualifying pole position for Max Verstappen, his eighth from the 15 times
this format has been used. It’s also his sixth consecutive success in a pole
position shoot-out at the Red Bull Ring: 2021 Styrian Grand Prix, 2021 and
2023, Austrian Grand Prix and Sprint Qualifying here for the past two years.
The Red Bull Racing driver was quickest in all three sections of qualifying,
with 1’04”686 his best time in Q3. Joining him at the top end of the time
sheet were the two McLaren drivers, with Lando Norris second in 1’04”779 and
Oscar Piastri third in 1’04”987. This trio were the only ones to get under
the 1’05” barrier.
THE DAY ON
TRACK
The Sprint weekend format means that the only free practice session is
particularly important to prepare the cars for the flying lap discipline, as
well as evaluating tyre behaviour over a long run and today was no
exception. During FP1, temperatures rose considerably, as the clouds
gradually made way for the rays of the sun, the track going from 31 to 45
°C.
All drivers, with the exception of Lewis Hamilton who only used one set of
Hards throughout, used two different compounds (not counting Aston Martin,
who used one set of Medium and one of Hard, simply to bed them in):
Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin and Alpine ran with Hard and Soft;
Red Bull, Williams, Racing Bulls, Sauber and Haas with Medium and Soft.
Max Verstappen was presented with the Pirelli Sprint Qualifying Award by
Verena Culka, a lucky fan chosen by the Austrian Grand Prix promoter to
enjoy this exclusive experience. Handmade in Italy, the trophy consists of a
square of FSC™ certified natural rubber, enclosed between two pieces of
glass on which is etched the layout of the Red Bull Ring and the FSC™ logo,
a stylised tree. The same rubber is part of the raw materials used in the
manufacture of all the Pirelli P Zero Formula 1 tyres, complying with the
environmental and social sustainability criteria defined by the forestry
management non-governmental organisation.
SIMONE BERRA – CHIEF ENGINEER
“All in all, it was a fairly normal Friday for a Sprint weekend, with the
teams in free practice doing several runs with relatively different
programmes in terms of stint length and fuel loads. From our side, there
were no particular surprises with how the three compounds we chose for this
Grand Prix behaved. As expected, there seems to be no graining, but
overheating is a major factor. Sprint Qualifying provides an opportunity to
compare the performance of the Medium and the Soft in very similar
conditions over a flying lap and the difference we saw today, of around four
tenths, is also in line with our expectations. The most relevant data is
linked to the extensive use of the Hard, by half the teams, which leads us
to believe that that their preferred strategy should be to run
Medium-Hard-Medium, given that a two-stop is the quickest choice. However,
the other five teams have left the door open to run two sets of Hard or two
sets of Medium. It’s worth noting that today’s times are generally a few
tenths slower than last year’s qualifying held on Friday afternoon is
similar weather conditions to today’s. Tomorrow, track temperature should be
around 40 °C or higher and the Medium should be the preferred choice for all
drivers, which will produce useful information for Sunday’s race.”
FORMULA 2
Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport took his second pole position of the season
after a close battle with Joshua Duerksen (AIX Racing) in a hotly contested
qualifying session. The Norwegian set a best time of 1’15”487 beating
Duerksen by just eight thousandths of a second, while Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta
Racing) rounded off the top three, with a lap time one tenth slower than
pole. As in past years, Pirelli has chosen the P Zero Red soft and P Zero
Purple supersoft for this event. The short Red Bull Ring features ten
corners, most of them medium to low speed. The track has not been resurfaced
for several years and although it is therefore quite abrasive, it doesn’t
have much of an impact on wear and tyre behaviour, which is mainly affected
by thermal degradation.
FORMULA 3
Luke Browning took his maiden Formula 3 pole position. Hitech Pulse-Eight’s
English driver set a best time of 1’20”222, without resorting to
slipstreaming, given that he was leading the pack on his quick lap.
Browning’s time was 84 thousandths quicker than that set by fellow
countryman Arvid Lindblad (Prema Racing) and 105 thousandths faster than
Germany’s Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport). Pirelli has selected the P Zero Red
soft as the compound for Spielberg, mainly because the forces exerted on the
tyres at the short Austrian track are considerably below average. |
