Verstappen takes a third pole position in Austria, Vettel records three consecutive Q1 exits for the first time in his career and McLaren endure their worst qualifying session in almost four years. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix!
VERSTAPPEN ON POLE FOR THE SPRINT
For the third consecutive race at the Red Bull Ring, Max Verstappen set the fastest qualifying time. Verstappen is the first driver to be fastest in qualifying in three consecutive Austrian races since Rene Arnoux in 1979, 1980 and 1981.
Verstappen equals the record for most pole positions in Austria. Niki Lauda, Rene Arnoux, Nelson Piquet, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton have also each set the fastest qualifying time on three occasions at the Spielberg track.
Verstappen set the fastest time by 0.029 seconds, which is the third smallest pole margin at the venue.
THE TOP 10
Both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz qualified in the top three. This is the first time both Ferrari drivers have qualified in the top three in Austria since 2002.
With third place, Carlos Sainz equalled his best Red Bull Ring qualifying result. He also qualified third for the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix.
Despite crashing out in Q3, George Russell equalled his second-best qualifying result of the year so far with fifth place.
Esteban Ocon out-qualified team-mate Fernando Alonso for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix.
With both Ocon and Alonso in Q3, this was the first time since 2018 that both of the Enstone-based team’s drivers have reached the final part of qualifying at the Red Bull Ring.
Both Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher reached Q3, recording Haas’ third double Q3 appearance of the 2022 season. This is the second time both Haas drivers have reached Q3 at the Red Bull Ring. They last did so in 2018.
For the first time in the past five race weekends at the Red Bull Ring, both Ferrari drivers reached Q3.
Crashing out in Q3, Lewis Hamilton qualified tenth – his worst qualifying result since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Tenth is the worst-ever qualifying result for a Mercedes driver at the Red Bull Ring.
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen maintain their 100% Q3 appearance record at the Red Bull Ring. Nico Rosberg is the only other driver who reached Q3 on every appearance at the venue.
OUT IN Q2
Pierre Gasly missed out on reaching Q3 by just 0.009 seconds.
With 12th place, Alex Albon equalled his best qualifying result of the season so far. He also qualified 12th at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas was eliminated in Q2 for a fifth consecutive race.
For the first time since 2018, neither McLaren driver reached Q3 at the Austrian Grand Prix. Lando Norris qualified 15th – his worst qualifying result of the year to date.
This is the first time since the 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that neither McLaren driver qualified inside the top 14.
All being eliminated in Q2, Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda and Valtteri Bottas lost their 100% Q3 appearance records at the Red Bull Ring.
OUT IN Q1
Qualifying in 16th place, Daniel Ricciardo was eliminated in Q1 at the Red Bull Ring for the first time. This was the first Q1 exit for a McLaren driver at the venue since 2018.
This was Ricciardo’s second Q1 exit of the season – his first since the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Lance Stroll recorded his 56th Q1 elimination. That sees him overtake Adrian Sutil and Heikki Kovalainen for third on the all-time list of Q1 exits. This was Stroll’s sixth consecutive Q1 exit.
Sebastian Vettel recorded his first Q1 exit at the Red Bull Ring. With his fastest lap time deleted for exceeding track limits, this was the first time Vettel has set the slowest time in qualifying since the 2019 German Grand Prix.
This is the first time in his career that Vettel has recorded Q1 exits at three consecutive races.
With both Stroll and Vettel out in Q1, this is the first time that the Silverstone-based team has recorded three double Q1 exits in a row since the start of the 2009 season. This was the team’s first double Q1 exit in Austria since 2019.
Vettel was out-qualified by Stroll for the first time since the Miami Grand Prix.
Zhou Guanyu made this the fifth consecutive race at the Red Bull Ring in which an Alfa Romeo driver has been eliminated in Q1.
Recording his fifth Q1 exit at the Red Bull Ring, Nicholas Latifi equalled Kimi Raikkonen as the driver with the most Q1 eliminations at the Austrian circuit.
This is the eighth consecutive Red Bull Ring race at which a Williams driver has been eliminated in Q1.
