E1 Series leaders Team Aoki hoping to continue success at round rour – Lake Maggiore
E1 Series leaders Team Aoki hoping to continue success at round rour - Lake Maggiore - this weekend
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News.com.au
43 minutes ago
- News.com.au
F1 2025 Austrian GP qualifying: Oscar Piastri to start third on grid
Deeply frustrated after his final qualifying lap was completely ruined by a yellow flag for another rival's mistake, Australia's Oscar Piastri faces a huge challenge winning Sunday night's Austrian Grand Prix after qualifying third. Prevented from showing what he could really do, Piastri was helpless to prevent his McLaren teammate and main championship rival Lando Norris from taking pole position by more than half a second from Charles Leclerc. Norris claimed his third pole of 2025 after stopping the clock at 1:03.971 but was lucky that Piastri was denied his shot at potentially bettering his time after he put on a fresh set of soft tyres for his final flying lap only to abort when Pierre Gasly spun out of control in his Alpine. 'A frustrating end to what was otherwise a positive session,' Piastri said. 'Gasly spun in front of me at the last corner and brought out the yellow flags, which meant I didn't get to open my second lap in Q3. 'I think we easily had the pace to be on the front row, especially as Lando was so quick, but we can have a good race from P3. 'I think there will be opportunities tomorrow and I'm not planning on finishing third.' Piastri currently leads the championship standings by 22 points, with Norris in second spot, after he crashed out of the last race in Canada attempting a crazy overtake. The winner of each race earns 25 points with 18 for second and 15 for third. In the 10 races held so far this season, the driver on pole has gone on to win six times. The only man to win in 2025 from outside the front row was Piastri at Miami. 'It is always a shame when you don't even get the chance. But we can still have a good race from there. Sometimes it's just not your day,' Piastri said. 'Lando was pretty quick all weekend, so it would have been difficult, definitely, but not impossible (to get pole). 'Obviously I'm disappointed to not have that opportunity, but I think there are opportunities tomorrow to try and go forward a bit more, so try and take them. 'I'd definitely rather be starting where Lando is, but I think there's still opportunities. It's a long race. It's going to be hot. It's tyre degradation here, so there's plenty of ways I can work myself back into the race.' Despite being in the fastest car, Norris has struggled to consistently produce his best in qualifying this season but was right on song at the high-speed Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. 'Nice to see the old me back every now and again,' the Englishman told his engineers over the team radio. 'That was pretty damn beautiful.' After climbing out of the cockpit for his trackside interview, he added: 'Qualifying has been some of my tough moments so to put in a lap like this is pleasing for myself. 'It's a long race tomorrow and a long season. I want to prove it myself over and over again and this is just the beginning of it. ' Leclerc split the McLarens to stick his Ferrari on the front row for only the second time this season, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth, his best qualifying result of 2025, to join Piastri on the second row. 'I am very pleased. Monaco was the last time we started on the front row and it has been a difficult season,' Leclerc said. 'We brought some new parts this weekend, which for sure have made a difference. I am very happy with the lap. 'We know we have a better car in the normal race than in qualifying so I hope we can put a bit more pressure on the McLarens in the race.' The four-time defending world champion Max Verstappen qualified seventh in his Red Bull after his final flying lap was also compromised by Gasly's untimely spin. Currently third in the drivers' standings, 43 points behind Piastri, the Dutchman said he didn't have the pace to match the McLarens but could still have been much higher. 'It depends how those last two corners would have gone. We would have been closer,' Verstappen said. 'It just didn't work in qualifying for whatever reason, there was not one single corner where I felt we had a nice balance. We were not McLaren level but we were still OK but in qualifying it just disappeared.' There was one big win for Australia already at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday when Aussie teenager James Wharton claimed victory in the F3 sprint. Benefiting from a reverse grid, the 18-year-old led the 21-lap race from pole to chequered flag to become the first Australian to win any F3 race since Jack Doohan in 2021. 'We finally got the result we've been working for all season. It's been a tough start, but we've worked hard with the team and behind the scenes to get here,' Wharton said. 'Yes, it's a Sprint Race, but we take it one step at a time. Now we've ticked this box, and we'll focus on winning a feature race too.'
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
F1 Austrian Grand Prix: Oscar Piastri qualifies third as Lando Norris takes pole
Australian Formula 1 drivers' championship leader Oscar Piastri will start Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix third, while his teammate has stormed to pole position. Lando Norris, second in the championship behind his McLaren teammate, dominated every session of qualifying at Spielberg in a brilliant performance. The Brit was more than half a second quicker than Ferrari's Charles Leclerc who qualified second quickest. Piastri was unable to go for a final flying lap at the end of qualifying, as Frenchman Pierre Gasly spun on the track, which brought out yellow flags in the final sector. Those same flags denied Red Bull's Max Verstappen (seventh) from finishing his final lap. "I didn't get to start [my lap] because of [Pierre] Gasly spinning in the last corner," Piastri said. "Lando has been quick all weekend, so it would have been tough, but we had the pace to start on the front row. "I think we've still got some opportunities tomorrow — I'm not planning on finishing third." Norris crashed out of the Canadian Grand Prix a fortnight ago after running into Piastri as the duo battled on track. The Brit took the blame for that crash, which led to his 22-point deficit to Piastri, but put that behind him in a brilliant performance. "It was a good lap, that's for sure," Norris said. "Very happy, a good day, a good weekend for me, so hopefully I can keep it up. "It is a long season. I savour this moment. It is pleasing for myself, but it is a long race tomorrow." French Formula 2 driver Sami Meguetounif walked away from a frightening crash in Austria during Saturday's sprint race, when he rolled over the cockpit of a rival and finished upside-down on the track. The incident happened on the second lap at the tight right-hand turn three at the Red Bull Ring. Meguetounif attempted to make a move up the inside of Red Bull junior driver Arvid Lindblad. The duo made contact and Meguetounif's car flipped directly over the cockpit of Williams's junior driver Luke Browning. Meguetounif's car came to rest upside down, with the Frenchman able to message his team that he was fine. Spanish Pepe Marti went on to win the F2 sprint race.
News.com.au
21 hours ago
- News.com.au
Red Bull's four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen tipped for explosive switch to Mercedes
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff on Friday suggested he was interested in signing Max Verstappen to partner George Russell in a potentially explosive driver line-up for the 2026 season. During a series of interviews, it emerged that he had made contract with the four-time world champion and that this had affected contract talks with Russell who has been in outstanding form this year. Russell told Sky Sports F1 that it was entirely 'normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing', adding that a team that aims to win the championship has to go for the best drivers, engineers and pit-crews to succeed. 'But from my side, if I'm performing as I'm doing, what have I got to be concerned about? There are two seats in every Formula 1 team.' Wolff has flirted with the idea of recruiting Verstappen for some time, but also expressed satisfaction with the current partnership of Russell and teenage rookie Kimi Antonelli – a precocious talent, but not yet an experienced or metronomic points-scorer. It may be, as many seasoned observers believe, that Wolff feels he can manage the testy rivalry between Russell and Verstappen, who have clashed several times in the last year both on and off the track. But, he conceded, it remains much more likely that Russell will stay at Mercedes next year – his contract ends this season – than that Verstappen, who is contracted to Red Bull until 2028, will arrive. 'He has been part of our program for 10 years,' Wolff said. 'He's always performed to the expectations and he's continuing to do so. These are normal business contract discussions as I have been doing for 30 years... And contract discussions are not held in Town Halls.' He added in a separate interview: 'At the moment, clearly you need to explore what's happening in the future, but it doesn't change anything of what I said before about George, about Kimi, about the line-up that I'm extremely happy having'. Verstappen declined to comment on the speculation when asked in a news conference on Thursday, but he is known to be frustrated with his Red Bull car this year. 'I don't think we need to talk about that,' the 27-year-old said. 'It's not really on my mind. Just driving well, trying to push the performance and then we focus on next year.' Much may depend on events at Red Bull where long-serving team consultant Helmut Marko is a key part of Verstappen's inner circle, but may be considering his own future amid reports that four-time champion Sebastian Vettel has been approached to replace him. In the wake of the departures of F1's most successful designer Adrian Newey to Aston Martin and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley to Sauber-Audi, it could be that Verstappen is also ready to leave. Next year will see F1 move into a new era with major rule changes requiring new engines and new cars – an opportunity that may favour a Mercedes revival.
