After a Sprint earlier in the day, it was now time to focus on Qualifying well for tomorrow’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Q1
In Qualifying 1; Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargeant, and Zhou Guanyu were the five slowest drivers. Alex Albon and Williams just don’t have the pace right now to make it into Q2 whilst Lance Stroll had an absolute howler for Aston Martin. Valtteri Bottas was once again P18 for Kick Sauber, ahead of the other Williams of Logan Sargeant, whilst Zhou Guanyu was once again slowest. It was Carlos Sainz who topped Q1 for Ferrari, but Oscar Piastri was only have a tenth behind in P2.
Q2
In Qualifying 2; Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, and Fernando Alonso all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout. Daniel Ricciardo was very unlucky to miss out on a Q3 appearance whilst Kevin Magnussen can be satisfied with P12 for Haas. Pierre Gasly will be slightly disappointed with a 7th-Row start, as will Yuki Tsunoda, whilst Fernando Alonso could only manage 15th in what was a pretty torrid day for Aston Martin. It was Max Verstappen who topped Q2 over Carlos Sainz by more than 5 tenths!
Q3
In Qualifying 3; a 1:04.314 was enough for Max Verstappen to take a dominant Pole Position! Someone clearly ticked off Max this morning because he absolutely smashed the field here! Lando Norris had to settle for another second place whilst George Russell did a great job to qualify third. Carlos Sainz just missed out on a Top 3 start whilst Lewis Hamilton will start 5th ahead of the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who made a mistake on his final run. Oscar Piastri suffered a gutting track limits violation which dropped him all the way from third to 7th whilst Sergio Perez was once again 8th in the other Red Bull. Nico Hulkenberg did a great job to qualify 9th for Haas whilst Esteban Ocon will start 10th after another positive day for Alpine.
Starting Grid for the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix and My Qualifying Grades
Max Verstappen: 10
Lando Norris: 9
George Russell: 9
Carlos Sainz: 8
Lewis Hamilton: 7
Charles Leclerc: 5
Oscar Piastri: 5
Sergio Perez: 4
Nico Hulkenberg: 9
Esteban Ocon: 8
Daniel Ricciardo: 7
Kevin Magnussen: 6
Pierre Gasly: 5
Yuki Tsunoda: 4
Fernando Alonso: 2
Alex Albon: 3
Lance Stroll: 1
Valtteri Bottas: 2
Logan Sargeant: 1
Zhou Guanyu: 1
My Predictions for the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
Lando Norris
George Russell
Oscar Piastri
Carlos Sainz