“I'm not really too stressed about it”: Max Verstappen unbothered by Lando Norris challenge at the Austrian GP sprint quali

Max Verstappen clinched the pole position for the Austrian GP sprint race, with Lando Norris once again emerging as his closest competitor. The duo will start on the front row for the Sprint race on Saturday, June 29.

Verstappen pipped Norris for the pole position with a lap time of 1:04:486s, a mere 0.093 seconds ahead of the McLaren driver. The latter's teammate, Oscar Piastri, qualified third, over three-tenths of a second behind the pole sitter.

Despite the two Papaya McLarens flanking him on the grid for the sprint race, Max Verstappen is unconcerned about the challenge presented by Lando Norris. The Red Bull ace seemed satisfied with the pace of the RB20 and declared that he was unbothered by how the sprint race would unfold.

When asked about the potential threat posed by the Norris, Verstappen said in the post-qualifying interview:

"I'm not really too stressed about it."

Max Verstappen kicked off his weekend in front of Red Bull's home crowd by topping the charts in the practice session. He was the quickest on the medium tire in SQ1 and SQ2 and pipped Norris on the soft tires to steal the pole position in SQ3.

Verstappen was satisfied with the balance of the car and is hoping to build on the momentum through the rest of the weekend.

"It's really been nice to drive the car. It was well balanced and then you make some little adjustments going into sprint qualifying and everything has been working really well. It's a good start to the weekend, there are still a lot of things to do, but I'm happy with today," he added.

George Russell looked to be in the mix for pole on medium tires but had to settle for fourth place, beside Oscar Piastri. Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton occupy the third row of the grid.

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McLaren boss optimistic about challenging Max Verstappen for the sprint win

After Lando Norris pipped Max Verstappen for pole position last weekend, it was the latter's turn to return the favor in this weekend's sprint qualifying.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella lauded Verstappen for putting the Red Bull in pole position, while he believes Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are well positioned to challenge the reigning champion for the sprint victory. Speaking to Sky Sports, Stella said,

"We gave our best, I think. In a way, it's been a tricky qualifying session because it wasn't easy to deliver the laps. We are happy with this kind of result and, like always, Max seems to find good performance. But it's good we are there and we have a good chance for tomorrow."

McLaren has brought two upgrades this weekend, but Max Verstappen has managed to extract maximum performance from the RB20. Having won the previous two sprint races, Verstappen is now aiming for his third consecutive victory this Saturday, June 29.