Verstappen becomes the driver with the most poles in Austria, Perez misses out on Q3 for the fourth race in a row and Russell becomes the first Mercedes driver to not qualify in the top ten at the Red Bull Ring. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix!
VERSTAPPEN ON POLE AT THE 2023 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX
Max Verstappen secured pole position for the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix, recording the 26th pole position of his Formula 1 career. He equalled Mika Hakkinen for tenth in the all-time list of most F1 poles.
Taking pole position for a fourth consecutive race, Verstappen equalled the longest pole streak of his career. He previously took four poles in a row between the 2021 French and British Grands Prix.
Verstappen became the first driver to take four poles in Austria. He’s also the first driver to take four consecutive poles in Austria, usurping Rene Arnoux as the driver who has taken the most successive poles at the Spielberg venue. Red Bull also become the team with the longest pole streak in Austria.
Verstappen extends his record for most front row starts at the Red Bull Ring to seven.
IN THE TOP TEN
Charles Leclerc qualified on the front of the grid at the Austrian Grand Prix for the second year in a row, while Carlos Sainz qualified third at the event for a second year in a row.
Along with Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton maintained his 100% Q3 appearance record at the Red Bull Ring. Hamilton still leads the way for most Q3 appearances in Austria. The 2023 Austrian Grand Prix marked his 12th top ten qualification at the venue.
Lance Stroll qualified in sixth place, out-qualifying team-mate Fernando Alonso for the second time in 2023. Stroll equalled his best qualifying result of the season, having previously qualified sixth three times already this year.
Sixth place is Stroll’s best qualifying result to date at the Red Bull Ring. His previous best was ninth place in 2020.
With seventh place, Fernando Alonso qualified in the top seven at the Austrian Grand Prix for only the second time in his career. His only better qualifying result at the Red Bull Ring is fourth place with Ferrari in 2014.
Reaching Q3 for a third race in a row, Nico Hulkenberg qualified in the top ten at three consecutive races for the first time since the 2019 Italian, Singapore and Russian Grands Prix.
Eighth is Hulkenberg’s best qualifying result at the Red Bull Ring since qualifying third in 2016.
Alex Albon reached Q3 for the second race in a row. It was only the second time in the last nine races at the Red Bull Ring that a Williams driver reached Q3. This is the first time since the 2021 Austrian and British Grands Prix that Williams have reached Q3 at successive races.
OUT IN Q2
For the fourth successive race, Sergio Perez failed to reach Q3 at the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix. It’s the first time since the end of the 2008 season that Red Bull have failed to reach Q3 with at least one car at four successive races.
This is the first time Perez has failed to reach Q3 at four successive races since he qualified outside of the top ten at all of the last eight races of the 2019 season.
Qualifying 11th, George Russell became the first Mercedes driver to fail to reach Q3 at the Red Bull Ring.
Esteban Ocon equalled his worst qualifying result of the season with 12th place.
With 14th place, the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix is the first time in his career that Valtteri Bottas has failed to qualify in the top ten at the Red Bull Ring. He did not reach Q3 last year but improved to 10th in the Sprint race which determined the grid.
OUT IN Q1
Kevin Magnussen qualified on the back row for the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix, recording his 60th Q1 exit. He is only the third driver to record 60 Q1 eliminations and overtakes Timo Glock for third in the list of most Q1 exits in Formula 1.
Zhou Guanyu was eliminated in Q1 for the second race in a row. It’s the second time this year that Zhou has been eliminated in Q1 at two successive events.
With both Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck De Vries out in Q1, the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix is the first time that both of the Red Bull junior team’s drivers have been eliminated in Q1 at the Red Bull Ring.
This is the first time that the Red Bull junior team has recorded double Q1 exits at consecutive races since the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the 2018 Australian Grand Prix.
Tsunoda recorded consecutive Q1 exits for the first time since the 2022 Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix.
This was the first time Tsunoda has out-qualified his team-mate at the Red Bull Ring.
De Vries’ 20th place marked the first back row qualification for a Red Bull junior team driver at the Red Bull Ring since Brendon Hartley in 2018. 20th equals the team’s worst qualifying position at the track. Daniil Kvyat also qualified 20th for the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix.
This is the second time in 2023 that De Vries has set the slowest lap time.