Formula 1 – Austrian Qualifying LIVE
Here you’ll be able to see all the updates from the Austrian Qualifying LIVE and as it happens. There’ll be regular updates throughout the session ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend.
It really does look like it will be a wonderful qualifying and who knows – we might even have a surprise result!?
Austrian Qualifying Live – What We Know Before Qualifying
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel will receive a five-place grid penalty due to a gearbox change – it’s an unpopular decision but it’s a part of the sport and down to the rules and regulations.
Toto Wolff says “the team told me not to worry” when he was asked about the status of Rosberg’s car after his accident in FP3.
Raikkonen and Hamilton could both see this as an opportunity for their races with their team-mates currently on the back foot….
Work is still under way on Rosberg’s car – the team is working hard to make sure his car will be back on-track for Qualifying.
Work is still ongoing on Rosberg’s car but he WILL be taking part in Qualifying Session 1
Austrian Qualifying LIVE
Austrian Qualifying 1
Pit Lane Now OPEN – Let’s get the first qualifying session started!
Rosberg is ready and eager to get out on-track…
Ferrari are looking strong on the Austrian Circuit – it could be a good result for Raikkonen too as his team-mate will face a five-place grid penalty.
Palmer is the first car on track followed by the Manor team…
Lots of cars now on track but Rosberg is still in the garage – with his helmet on, ready and waiting…
There’s a 40% chance of rain with most drivers on the purple (ultrasoft) tyres allowing for higher speeds…
Hamilton has just set the fastest lap with a time of 1:07.014 – Perez is in second place with Hulkenberg in third place.
Vettel, Raikkonen and Alonso are still in the pits…
Massa goes second fastest.
Raikkonen now sets the second fastest lap – his team-mate Vettel is now on the track too..
Vettel sets the third fastest lap time with Rosberg now top of the time sheets and Hamilton in second…
Vettel now sets the second fastest lap time – in between the two Mercedes drivers…
Daniil Kvyat out of the session – over the barriers and into the wall…
RED FLAG – Qualifying 1
With 1 minute left in Q1, the session has been red-flagged as Daniil Kvyat crashed, right now it looks like a right-rear suspension failure causing him to go off-track and into the barrier.
Qualifying has resumed
Hulkenberg is the first car on track, followed by Renault’s Palmer and Magnussen closely behind. Let’s see the results with the final minute of Qualifying now underway.
Carlos Sainz is out of the session, it looks like he suffered with an engine-failure. He’s off-track, on the side, on the grass and yellow flags are showing in sector 1 and 2.
Here are the drivers which are out of Q1
Out of Q1
Magnussen
Palmer
Haryanto
Kvyat
Ericsson
Nasr
Austrian Qualifying 2
Q2 is now underway with a chance of rain.
Hulkenberg is under investigation after failing to slow down during the yellow flags. This will be investigated after the qualifying session which might mean there will be a change ahead of tomorrow’s race – if they take things further.
Hamilton now sets the fastest lap time of 1:06.228 with Rosberg in second place – Alonso being told that there are clouds and to do what he can in this qualifying session.
Ricciardo now sets the third-fastest lap time with Bottas in fourth and Raikkonen in 5th. Vettel is on his fast-lap.
Vettel now goes third fastest pushing Ricciardo to fourth place but remember, Vettel has a five-place grid penalty.
Alonso now tells his team “there is no rain on the circuit or black clouds, it should be ok” – he seems confident on getting through Q2, his team-mate Button, is currently in 10th place.
Hamilton still leads Rosberg – top 3 on the time sheet Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel back into the pits.
Verstappen now improves on his time and pushes Ricciardo, his team-mate, into fifth place. Ricciardo now goes fourth fastest again knocking Verstappen into fifth. A battle between the two team-mates which is good to see, pushing each other for positive results.
Raikkonen now radio’s to his team saying “I see rain” – drivers are coming back into the pits for a tyre change.
Rosberg and Hamilton are now back on-track.
The rain is now pouring on the track, cars are back into the pits with 2 minutes left in the session.
Out of Q2
Gutierrez
Wehrlein
Grosjean
Alonso
Austrian Qualifying 3
Both Ferrari’s are the first cars on track followed by the Mercedes and Williams.
The rain has now stopped however the circuit is completely wet with Vettel saying ‘there’s quite a lot of water in turn 1 and down to turn 2‘ and there’s a forecast of more rain in the next few minutes.
Vettel sets the first lap time of 1:20.798, Hamilton in second place with Ricciardo in third.
Rosberg sets the fastest lap time of 1:19.548 with Hamilton closely following him.
Ricciardo is now on provisional pole setting his time of 1:19.217 knocking Rosberg into second place with Vettel now third.
Drivers have now come into the pits to change tyres – all of them are on the ultrasoft (purple) tyres.
1 minute of Qualifying remaining…. it’s going to be close.
All the drivers have made it past the line – they’re all going for their final fast lap.
- Hamilton
- Rosberg
- Hulkenberg
- Vettel (Five-Place Penalty)
- Button
- Raikkonen
- Ricciardo
- Bottas
- Verstappen
- Massa
Top 10 ahead of the race tomorrow for the Austrian Grand Prix!
There’s lots more to come soon on the blog including driver & team reactions plus a few fun features!
The Formula 1 Girl 🙂
xxx