Austrian GP qualifying head-to-head: How every F1 team-mate battle stacks up in 2026

The Austrian Grand Prix qualifying session has added another chapter to the 2026 Formula 1 team-mate rivalry standings, with the gaps between partners at several teams continuing to tell a compelling story about the season’s internal battles.

McLaren

Lando Norris leads Oscar Piastri 7-4 overall (4-4 excluding sprint qualifying), with Norris edging his team-mate in Austria. The margins between the pair have been tight throughout the season, with several Q3 gaps of under a tenth of a second underlining how closely matched the two McLaren drivers are.

Mercedes

George Russell holds a 6-5 lead over rookie Kimi Antonelli in the overall count (4-4 without sprints). Antonelli, however, took the edge in Austria, qualifying fourth to Russell’s position and posting a 0.301-second advantage in Q3 — a result that will raise eyebrows given the Italian’s relative inexperience at this level.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen has been dominant against Isack Hadjar, leading 9-2 overall (6-2 without sprints). Verstappen qualified eighth in Austria and was 0.157 seconds clear of Hadjar in Q3. Hadjar’s campaign has been disrupted by incidents, including a failure to set a lap time in Q1 in Australia after going off.

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are separated by the narrowest of margins, with Hamilton leading 6-5 overall (4-4 without sprints). Leclerc took Austria, qualifying third and holding a 0.059-second advantage over his team-mate in Q3. Hamilton’s move to Ferrari has produced a genuinely competitive internal dynamic, with neither driver able to establish clear dominance.

Williams

Carlos Sainz leads Alexander Albon 7-2 overall (6-1 without sprints), with Sainz qualifying 15th in Austria to Albon’s 17th. The gap between the two has been a consistent feature of Williams’ season, with Sainz regularly outpacing his team-mate across all session types.

Racing Bulls

Liam Lawson leads Arvid Lindblad 7-3 overall (6-2 without sprints), with Lawson qualifying ninth in Austria. Lindblad has shown flashes of pace — including a 0.052-second deficit to Lawson in Q3 in Barcelona — but Lawson has maintained the upper hand across the campaign.

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso leads Lance Stroll 8-1 overall (6-1 without sprints), a scoreline that reflects the gulf between the two drivers throughout the season. Stroll has managed just one qualifying victory over his team-mate, while Alonso has consistently outqualified him by significant margins.

The head-to-head records are based exclusively on qualifying results, ensuring that grid penalties do not distort the statistics. Where a driver was unable to set a representative lap time due to a technical issue or incident, this has been noted in the session-by-session breakdown.