Liam Lawson will start the Austrian Grand Prix from ninth on the grid after another impressive qualifying performance, as a dramatic session at the Red Bull Ring saw George Russell snatch pole position following a late crash for Max Verstappen.
The Kiwi continued his strong form throughout the weekend, comfortably advancing through the opening two segments before securing a place in Q3 alongside Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad.
In a tightly contested midfield battle, Lawson once again emerged as the team’s leading driver, edging out the highly-rated rookie by just 0.052 seconds.
While the fight for pole position produced the biggest headlines, Lawson’s performance ensured Racing Bulls locked out the fifth row of the grid and positioned themselves strongly for Sunday’s race.
After showing encouraging pace throughout practice, Lawson carried that speed into qualifying from the outset.
Mercedes entered the session as favourites after topping all three practice sessions, but the opening segment quickly demonstrated just how competitive the field had become around the short and demanding Red Bull Ring layout.
Kimi Antonelli set the early benchmark, while championship contenders including Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, and Verstappen all featured near the front.
Lawson steadily built into the session and delivered when it mattered most. On his final Q1 run, he surged up the order to fourth fastest, placing himself behind only Norris, Hamilton and Antonelli. The lap comfortably secured his progression into Q2 and underlined the pace Racing Bulls had shown throughout the weekend.
At the other end of the field, Williams suffered a disappointing double elimination as Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon were both knocked out. Cadillac’s difficult weekend continued with Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas also failing to advance, while Aston Martin endured another frustrating session as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll occupied the final two positions.
Q2 saw the battle intensify as the remaining 16 drivers fought for a place in the pole-position shootout.
Antonelli once again led the way early in the session, with McLaren and Ferrari remaining firmly in contention. Verstappen briefly found himself in danger after struggling to improve, narrowly avoiding elimination in the closing moments.
Lawson, meanwhile, continued to extract strong pace from the Racing Bulls package. Together with Lindblad, he comfortably progressed into Q3, ensuring both team cars reached the final segment and establishing Racing Bulls as the strongest midfield operation in Austria.
Pierre Gasly came agonisingly close to denying Verstappen a place in the top ten but ultimately missed out by just a few hundredths of a second. The Frenchman was eliminated alongside Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto.
The final pole shootout initially appeared to be developing into a battle between the Mercedes drivers and Verstappen.
Antonelli delivered a superb first flying lap to move provisionally to the top of the timesheets, narrowly ahead of Russell and Verstappen. Lawson slotted into eighth after the opening runs, with Hamilton unable to set a representative time after running wide and abandoning his lap.
As the final minutes unfolded, Ferrari briefly looked set to steal pole position. Hamilton first moved to the top before teammate Leclerc bettered his effort to send the Austrian crowd into a frenzy.
However, the session took a dramatic turn moments later.
Verstappen was on a potentially pole-winning lap when he lost control of his Red Bull through Turn 9. The Dutchman spun off into the gravel before making heavy contact with the barriers, immediately triggering yellow flags and disrupting the final attempts of several drivers.
With the track partially compromised, Antonelli abandoned his lap entirely. Russell, however, managed the situation effectively and still found enough time to improve, producing a brilliant final effort that elevated him to pole position.
The Mercedes driver ultimately finished ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton, while Antonelli settled for fourth after being unable to complete his final run.
Verstappen’s earlier effort was enough to leave him fifth despite the crash, followed by Norris and Piastri. Isack Hadjar claimed eighth for Red Bull, while Lawson secured ninth ahead of Lindblad to complete the top ten.
For Lawson, the result marked another encouraging qualifying display during a season that has seen him consistently maximise opportunities in the highly competitive midfield battle.
“It’s been a very good weekend so far with both cars making it into Q3,” Lawson said afterwards.
“The car has felt strong across all sessions, and I’m really happy with the work everyone is doing, both here at the track and behind the scenes.
“A few teams arrived with upgrades this weekend, so we knew it was going to be a real challenge, and it was still incredibly close, but to come out on top of the midfield is a really strong result.”
Lawson believes tyre management will be one of the key factors when the lights go out for Sunday’s race, with soaring temperatures expected to create difficult conditions throughout the Grand Prix.
“Tomorrow is going to be a tough race, and temperatures are expected to be high. It probably won’t be quite as demanding on the tyres as Barcelona, but degradation will still be a factor with how much we’re sliding around.
“We will work overnight to make sure we are in the best position to hopefully score points.”
With both Racing Bulls cars starting inside the top ten and appearing to hold a pace advantage over their direct midfield rivals, Lawson heads into the Austrian Grand Prix well placed to continue his strong run of form and add valuable points to the team’s championship tally.
Header Image: Philip Platzer via Red Bull Content Pool
