Fernando Alonso will start eleventh and Carlos Sainz will start penultimate
British driver Lando Norris (McLaren) achieved the pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday, ahead of Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), the eleventh race of the Formula 1 World Championship. Meanwhile, Spanish drivers Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Carlos Sainz (Williams) will start eleventh and nineteenth, respectively.
With an impressive time of 1:03.971, half a second faster than the ‘Scuderia’ driver, Norris claimed his twelfth pole position of his career and the third of the season after Australia and Monaco. His teammate and championship leader, Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren), will start third, while reigning champion, Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), will start seventh.
Alonso broke a streak of four consecutive Grand Prix races reaching Q3 after missing out by just 76 thousandths to Italian Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), who closed the ‘Top 10’ in Q2. Sainz, on the other hand, has now failed to advance from Q1 in three consecutive races. «There is damage to the car, it’s undriveable under braking, there is no high-speed cornering grip,» warned the Madrilenian over the radio.
