Winners and losers from 2024 Austrian Grand Prix sprint qualifying

Qualifying for the sprint race is done and along with polesitter Max Verstappen, there were plenty of others who enjoyed a good session.

Verstappen will have a very papaya looking view in his mirrors with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri occupying the spots behind them. Here are the winners and losers from the sprint qualifying session.

Winners and Losers from the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix sprint qualifying session

Winners

Max Verstappen

Verstappen got it done once again in front of a jubilant Red Bull home crowd. No driver had a perfect lap in SQ3 given the queuing chaos but the last man over the line was ultimately the one who put in the best time.

Sector two was where the Dutchman really made up the time and even though there was just 0.093 between him and Norris, it is Verstappen once again in P1.

McLaren

Verstappen may have won the battle but McLaren may well win the war. The Dutchman took pole but Sergio Perez is all the way down in seventh, restricting Red Bull when it comes to tactics.

Meanwhile McLaren occupy P2 and P3 so will hope at least one of them can get a jump on Verstappen off the line.

With no mandatory pit stops, on-track position could prove vital in the sprint.

Logan Sargeant

It is not often Logan Sargeant appears in the winners column but out-qualifying your team-mate is worthy of a mention.

The American may seem like a dead man walking given the talk of his seat going to someone else but he put some more respect on his name in Spielberg.

Losers

Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc’s momentum has taken a fair old whack since his victory in Monaco and it was another disappointing showing here.

Near the back of the queue heading out for his SQ3 lap, the car malfunctioned beneath him with an unknown mix of anti-stall and engine issues requiring him to move over to the side of the pit lane and search for a solution.

He was able to restart it but did so too late on with less than 1:10 on the session clock meaning, despite his best efforts, he could not start a flying lap in time and will start in 10th.

More from sprint quali in Austria

👉 ‘What the hell happened?’ – Charles Leclerc runs out of time for Sprint lap with engine reboot

👉 Lewis Hamilton rues ‘disastrous’ Austrian GP sprint qualifying after ‘very bad laps’

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo’s inability to stay in a good run of form has been ongoing since his McLaren days and continued here.

Admittedly, the RB car has taken a step back since the upgrades but while the Australian got more out of it than Yuki Tsunoda in Spain, the normal order was once again restored in Austria.

The sprint is a write-off and the team will want better than a Q1 exit in tomorrow’s qualifying.

Aston Martin

Aston’s slip down the order was further confirmed after neither driver managed to reach Q3.

The team always knew there was a gap between themselves and the front runners but with Mercedes and now even Alpine a step ahead, they have work to do to return to the top half of the grid.

As for what is achievable in the sprint, not much would be the suggestion and Aston will hope tomorrow’s quali brings better fortunes than what we saw today.

Read next: Austrian GP: Max Verstappen claims pole as Charles Leclerc fumbles in Sprint Qualy