2021 Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying "It's been nine years since McLAREN has qualified on the front row"
Red Bull Ring, Saturday 3 July
Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, and Team Principal Andreas Seidl after Qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.
LANDO NORRIS, #4
| FP3 | 1m05.700s (+1.109s) | 23 laps | 15th | |
| Q1 | 1m04.345s (Softs) | 2nd | ||
| Q2 | 1m04.415s (Mediums) | 5th | ||
| Q3 | 1m03.768s (Softs) | 2nd |
“Very happy! My best result in qualifying in Formula 1, so a big achievement for us as a team but also for myself. It was one of the best laps I’ve done. To only be half a tenth off pole is a great achievement for everyone. It makes you miss it from your early career! I don’t think we could've done a lot more, so P2 is awesome for us and a great position to start from tomorrow. Let's see what we can do in the race.”
Austrian Grand Prix Red Bull Ring
DANIEL RICCIARDO, #3
| FP3 | 1m05.725s (+1.134s) | 21 laps | 16th | |
| Q1 | 1m04.977s (Softs) | 15th | ||
| Q2 | 1m04.719s (Softs) | 13th | ||
| Q3 | - |
“Unfortunately, a similar result to last week. It did feel better, but it’s just not translating into lap-time. In Q1, I was pretty happy with the laps. I felt like I’d done quite well but I was still half a second off. So, it’s a bit of a head-scratch. I don’t really know where else to get the extra speed from at the moment, so I’ll keep chipping away. We’ve got the tyre choice tomorrow, so we’ll try to make another good start like last week and keep sailing through the field.”
McLAREN Store Get 10% off when you register and join McLAREN Plus
ANDREAS SEIDL, Team Principal
“It’s been nine years since McLaren has qualified on the front row, so P2 today for Lando is a great result for the entire team and our colleagues at Mercedes HPP. A reward for the hard work that everyone has been putting in over the last month to keep improving the car and make this possible today. Lando’s been flying, continuously improving with every single lap all through the qualifying sessions.
On Daniel’s side, it was another challenging qualifying session which ended with him in P13 – but at this circuit and with the strategy options we’re expecting, he can have a good race from there. While we’ve had a good moment, it’s important to switch our focus to tomorrow, which is when the points get distributed. The objective is clear: we’ve got to get Daniel back into the points and score another big result with Lando for our battle in the Constructors’ Championship.”
Sign up now
McLaren Plus is our free-to-join fan loyalty programme, bringing McLaren fans closer to the team with the most inclusive, rewarding and open-to-all fan programmes in F1 & esports.
Sign up now, or current members can amend their details in the form below if necessary.