2026 Austrian GP Qualifying Preview

Check out James Punt’s 2026 Austrian GP qualifying preview below. Click here to see his in depth, team by team ante-post preview and tips.

2026 Austrian GP Qualifying

With the three practice sessions finished, we have a better idea of the pecking order for this particular circuit.

Mercedes are out in front, fastest in all three sessions. Russell just pipped Antonelli by 0.038 in the final qualifying sims in FP3. Russell had been struggling with understeer right up until that final run, Antonelli had been fastest up to then but made a mistake on his final run.

Ferrari were underwhelming on Friday, but rival teams said that they were running in a lower power mode with their new upgraded power unit. That proved to be correct and Hamilton was third in FP3, just over a tenth behind Russell. Leclerc’s malaise continues and he was making mistakes and was only 7th and over two tenths behind his teammate.

McLaren Thereabouts

McLaren have been thereabouts all weekend, on a track they usually do go well on. Norris didn’t get a lot of track time in FP1 and has been slower than Piastri in all three sessions, but only by a tiny fraction. Second row potential, but maybe for only one of their cars.

Red Bull couldn’t get their cars out of the pit lane at the start of FP1 and started on the back foot. The car has a lot of upgrades but the drivers were not exactly joyous. Verstappen was putting in some good sector times, but not able to string them together, so the potential is there for him to be higher up the order than his 6th place in FP3.

Hadjar has struggled all weekend, but he only ran the hard tyre on Friday and for most of FP3. He ended up 8th and not happy with the brakes. He is really struggling and looks the weakest of the big four drivers. After the big four, there is a considerable gap to the midfielders.

Best Of The Rest

The battle to be best of the rest looks very close. The Racing Bulls were 9th and 10th, just ahead of Gasly in the upgraded Alpine in 11th. The upgraded Audis were in their usual place, loitering just outside the top ten, splitting the Alpines.

The two Haas were 15th and 16th and happy enough with their car in free practice. They are detached from the Racing Bulls, Alpine and Audi group by a couple of tenths. Qualifying isn’t their strength, but they should get both cars into Q2.

Williams head the third division in 17th and 18th, followed by the upgraded Cadillac’s in 19th and 20th. After a day blighted by mechanical problems on Friday, at least they got a normal session completed. They are a disappointing half a second behind Williams, but sixth tenths ahead of the hapless Aston Martin’s.

2026 Austrian GP Qualifying Summary

On a very short lap we should expect a very close qualifying session. Any mistakes, or getting blocked by traffic, will be heavily punished as dropping a tenth or two can means several grid positions dropped. The last three qualifying sessions this season have seen the gap between first and second at less than 0.10s. On this track the winning margin in qualifying has been under 0.10s in seven of the last ten years.

2026 Austrian GP qualifying Tip: 1 point winning margin to be under 0.10 seconds @ 2.04 with Unibet

Antonelli has been the most impressive driver so far. He did get pipped at the death by Russell, but if he can put in a mistake free lap, he looks to have the edge. Mercedes have dominated qualifying, taking all seven pole positions so far. Three for Russell and four for Antonelli.

Antonelli is the 1.83 favourite, Russell 5.00. I think Antonelli can edge it, but the value bet is on Russell. We can get e/w terms of 1/5 the odds 1-3. He has been on pole in two of the last three GPs and while he hasn’t got the race pace of Antonelli, he is still competitive in qualifying.

2026 Austrian GP qualifying Tip: 1 point e/w George Russell to be fastest qualifier @ 5.00 with Fitzdares

Making it into Q3 is going to be very competitive between Lawson, Gasly, Lindblad and maybe an Audi. Lawson has been 9th in his two free practice sessions and he has made Q3 in the last two GPs. He is a 1.83 shot.

Gasly has made Q3 in four of the seven qualifying sessions in 2026 and was just 0.084 of Lindblad in 10th in FP3 earlier. The Audi’s were over 0.1s off Gasly in 12th and 13th. Gasly and Lawson have been the best two midfield qualifiers so far in 2026, with average qualifying positions of 10.57 and 11.00 respectively.

2026 Austrian GP qualifying Tip: 1 point Liam Lawson to make Q3 @ 1.83 with Pokerstars

2026 Austrian GP qualifying Tip: 1 point Pierre Gasly to make Q3 @ 2.50 with Pokerstars (2.40 Betfred)

There is one match bet which is good enough to back. Leclerc has been struggling recently, not least in qualifying with 8/4/10 in the last three qualifying sessions. He has not been better than 7th in practice. Max Verstappen didn’t quite string all three sectors together in FP3 but finished nearly a tenth faster than Leclerc. Verstappen has out qualified Leclerc in the last four qualifying sessions this season and looks like he can make that five.

2026 Austrian GP qualifying Tip: 1 point Max Verstappen to beat Charles Leclerc @ 1.80 with Fitzdares

-JamesPunt