Winners and losers from the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying

Lando Norris feels like his old self now that he’s taken a strong pole position, while further down the grid, Max Verstappen’s performance is raising questions the team can’t answer.

These are PlanetF1.com’s winners and losers for qualifying at the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix.

Winners and losers from the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying

Winner: Lando Norris

“Nice to see the old me back every now and then, huh?”

That was Lando Norris’ radio message to his McLaren team after learning that he’d snatched a very impressive pole position ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix — and that he’d managed to build a half-second gap over the next quickest car.

While Norris’ race pace has been strong, he’s really struggled to put together a clean lap in qualifying, where extracting every millisecond is critical. It’s left him on the back foot come the start of the race.

But in Austria, Norris found something special. Race engineer Will Joseph told Norris that while the driver may not have felt that his first Q3 lap was great, it was still good — good enough, it turns out, for pole.

While there’s still all to play for come race day, Norris can rest easy tonight knowing he’s made a strong step forward.

Loser: Max Verstappen

Ask Max Verstappen for his perspective on the Austrian Grand Prix so far, and there’s a good chance you’ll sense frustration in his response. Though the Red Bull driver did manage to set the seventh-fastest time in Q3, he found himself struggling all weekend.

Despite feeling a little better in FP3, Vertappen said the car did a 180 in qualifying. He claimed he struggled in every corner, and even worse: he wasn’t able to pinpoint any specific place where performance had waned.

Though seventh isn’t the worst position in the world, it does mean he’ll be sitting in the thick of the pack come Sunday afternoon, and Verstappen is going to be keen on a clean race. If he secures one penalty point this weekend, he’ll face a one-race ban next weekend, at the British Grand Prix. If he can keep his nose clean, two of his current 11 points will expire on Monday, giving him a little extra breathing room heading into the rest of the season.

Winner: Gabriel Bortoleto

In setting the eighth-fastest time in Q3, Gabriel Bortoleto will start the Austrian Grand Prix in a better position than he’s ever started an F1 race before.

According to the rookie, who remains one of only two active drivers who failed to score a single point so far this season, things at Sauber finally feel like they’re clicking.

“I’m getting more and more experienced with the car and the team and the series,” he explained to media. “It’s just the beginning. It’s not even half of this season for me.

“I’ve been working very hard and understanding what I need from my side, from the car, and I feel like I’m getting more and more comfortable with it and that I know what I need before even the weekend starts.”

The Red Bull Ring is already a special circuit for Bortoleto; it’s the place where he scored his maiden Formula 2 victory en route to a championship in 2024. Now, Sauber has brought new upgrades to the circuit this weekend, but Bortoleto has really proven what kind of magic he can work when everything falls into place.

It also positions Bortoleto well to score his first points of 2025, though there is admittedly quite a lot that can happen during a Grand Prix. But rather than trying to play catch-up, Bortoleto’s Sauber team will have a track position advantage.

Loser: Yuki Tsunoda

While I did consider combining both Red Bull drivers together as one of my losers, unfortunately, both drivers seemed to struggle for different reasons. While Verstappen was able to qualify seventh despite an unbalanced car, Tsunoda could manage no better than 18th.

Speaking to media, Tsunoda said that his first push lap felt good in Q1, but everything fell apart on his second lap. Much like teammate Verstappen, Tsunoda couldn’t pinpoint any specific problem causing him fits; everything felt bad.

But even though both drivers faced major issues with their cars, Tsunoda’s qualifying position at the very tail end of the grid is emblematic of a much deeper problem. Verstappen, at least, was able to make it to Q3; Tsunoda has rarely made it further than Q1 since moving to Red Bull.

The RB21 is a difficult car to manage, but for Tsunoda, there’s a fundamental miscommunication between man and machine.

More from the Austrian Grand Prix:

👉 Mercedes look to cool off in Austria as W16 upgrades under the microscope

👉 Red Bull play the imitation game with RB21 upgrade for Austrian GP

Winner: Liam Lawson

Did anyone predict Liam Lawson would be the highest-qualifying driver in the greater Red Bull family in Austria? Because if you did, I’d like a look into your crystal ball!

The New Zealander looked strong right from Q1, where he set the third-fastest time on the board — and that was pace he was able to nurture all the way through to a sixth-place start come Sunday afternoon.

This isn’t his best-ever qualifying session in Formula 1, but it’s a much needed boost of fortune for Lawson. The destabilizing promotion to Red Bull at the start of the year, followed by a demotion to Racing Bulls just a few races later, has seen the Kiwi flounder. But in Austria, he’s found his footing.

Loser: Carlos Sainz Jr.

While Williams didn’t have the pace for a Q3 run this weekend in Austria, Carlos Sainz’s Saturday came to an early end after his FW47 sustained damage.

He told the team over the radio that the car was “undriveable,” by which he meant, “it’s pulling under braking, no load in high speed; undriveable.”

The team informed him that he had sustained some amount of floor damage at some point on the track, though Sainz wasn’t able to provide any additional details to media after the session.

However, his qualifying efforts were hampered right from the start due to brake issues. The team had swapped brakes between FP3 and qualifying, but something went wrong somewhere along the way.

Sainz will start from 19th on the grid.

Winner: Ferrari

While both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have cautioned fans not to get their hopes too high regarding the Scuderia’s upgrade package this weekend, it certainly seems as if this new floor has helped the drivers eke out just a bit more pace.

Leclerc will start the Austrian Grand Prix from second on the grid, right alongside polesitter Norris, while Hamilton will round out the second row with his fourth-place qualifying. While they’ll have both been hoping to snag the front row, they must be pleased to know they’ve made progress.

That’s going to be critical. Last time out in Canada, Mercedes slipped past Ferrari to snag second in the World Constructors’ Championship with a gap of just 16 points. If the Prancing Horse can put together a strong Sunday, it could very well retain its place in P2.

Loser: Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly looked exceptionally strong in qualifying, finding pace in his Alpine that has seemed to be fairly difficult to access earlier in the season.

But on his final flying lap in Q3, it all went wrong. The Frenchman lost control in the very last corner, taking a spin through the gravel. While he was able to avoid cracking into the wall or another car, the move wrecked his lap — and the resulting yellow flag, albeit very brief, came at just the wrong time. Several other drivers had their final flying laps impacted, losing out on the ability to perhaps improve position.

Though Gasly will start 10th — in itself not a bad position — he was convinced he had the pace to qualify up in sixth.