2019 Austrian GP: Qualifying Analysis

Charles Leclerc took the second pole position of his career while his team-mate was unable to set a lap time in Q3. We take a look at all the stats and stories from Saturday at the Austrian Grand Prix!

Q  U  A  L  I  F  Y  I  N  G     R  E  C  A  P

• Leclerc takes pole by over two tenths from Hamilton
• Verstappen third, Gasly only ninth
• Vettel fails to set a time in Q3 after air pressure problem
• Hamilton gets 3-place penalty for impeding Raikkonen in Q1
• Magnussen qualifies fifth, but starts tenth after gearbox penalty
• Norris qualifies in the top six for second consecutive race
• Both Racing Point drivers eliminated in Q1
• Russell handed 3-place penalty for impeding Kvyat

The Ultimate Pace

Charles Leclerc was fastest in all three sectors in qualifying for the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix. His team-mate Sebastian Vettel was second fastest in the first sector, having set his fastest time in Q2. Lewis Hamilton was the second fastest driver in the final two sectors of the track. Kevin Magnussen’s fifth place in qualifying was particularly impressive, considering that Haas were the slowest team in the first sector, and the Dane set only the 18th fastest time through that part of the track. Both Haas drivers were slower than Williams’ George Russell in Sector 1.

Charles Leclerc set the pole time and the fastest times in all three sectors, but could have set an even faster lap time, had he put together all three of his fastest sectors into one lap. Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll were the only drivers to set all three of their fastest sector times on their final qualifying lap. The numbers show how badly Daniil Kvyat was impeded on his final lap in Q1. His potential best lap time was 0.365 seconds faster than his actual lap time. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel’s best three sector times combined would have been good enough for fifth on the grid. The full data can be seen below:

The team-mate battles

Largest gaps in each session:

Q1: Alex Albon 0.616s faster than Daniil Kvyat

Q2: Nico Hulkenberg 0.274s faster than Daniel Ricciardo

Q3: Max Verstappen 0.760s faster than Pierre Gasly

Gap between team-mates in last session where each driver set a time:

*Carlos Sainz’s time in Q2 was over nine seconds slower than Lando Norris’, but was unrepresentative. The difference in their Q1 lap times has been used here instead. 

Looking at each driver’s ultimate pace also offers an interesting glimpse into who was fastest in each sector in each team. The results can be found in the table below. At Racing Point, Lance Stroll was faster than team-mate Sergio Perez in both the first and final sectors. However, it was in the middle sector where the Mexican got the better of Stroll, with his 0.171 second gain on his team-mate in this part of the track being enough to see him qualify ahead of the Canadian. The closest gap between team-mates based on ultimate pace today was at Alfa Romeo, where Kimi Raikkonen was only 0.047 seconds faster than team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi.

Find all the team-mate battle statistics for the 2019 season here!

Team Pace

For the first time this season, there was a sector in which Williams were not the slowest team. As mentioned above, that was in Sector 1, where George Russell was the sixteenth fastest driver, ahead of both Haas cars. Haas made their time up in the last sector though, where they were the fourth fastest team. Alfa Romeo were fourth fastest in the first two sectors. At the front, Ferrari were fastest in every sector, Mercedes second fastest and Red Bull third quickest.

About the above table: the ‘gap to ultimate pace’ column shows the gap between the team’s best three sector times added together and the overall best three sector times added together. The ‘gap to pole time’ column shows the gap between the team’s best three sector times added together and the lap time of the polesitter.

Improvements between 2018 and 2019

Alfa Romeo were the most improved team since last year, finding over eight tenths from their best potential 2018 lap time to their best potential 2019 lap time. Mercedes, McLaren, Haas and Williams’ best potential lap times were all slower than they were last year. You can see the full data below:

All set for Sunday:

With five different teams in the top six spaces on the grid, the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix looks set to be an interesting race. Will Charles Leclerc score his maiden F1 victory? Can Max Verstappen take a second successive victory at Red Bull’s home event? And what can Mercedes do from third and fourth on the grid? Further back, Sebastian Vettel will be looking to move quickly through the field from ninth on the grid, and Lando Norris will be hoping to defend his top five grid slot.

In the Lucky and Unlucky Grid Positions:

[one_half]

LUCKY:

4th: Lewis Hamilton

7th: Antonio Giovinazzi

13th: Sergio Perez

14th: Lance Stroll

16th: Robert Kubica

18th: George Russell[/one_half]

[one_half_last]

UNLUCKY:

10th: Kevin Magnussen

11th: Romain Grosjean

12th: Daniel Ricciardo

19th: Carlos Sainz[/one_half_last]

Find out what makes each grid position lucky or unlucky here!