![\"Dunne](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2283443209.jpeg\"\/)
Dunne opted to run with a slipstream which ended up as the slower option in QualifyingSECTOR 2<\/p>\nQualifying in Spielberg is always an interesting session that is split by hundredths of a second, and we saw that once again in 2026. <\/p>\n
What was interesting was the decision-making process from all the teams and drivers about where and when they opted to put their cars out on track. <\/p>\n
As in Barcelona at the previous round, a slipstream is valuable, moreso around the Red Bull Ring with three DRS zones around the lap which can count for a large chunk of time. <\/p>\n
But it was Noel Le\u00f3n that took pole, as the Campos Racing driver chose clean air and an empty track over a tow. <\/p>\n
So how was the Mexican driver able to take pole without a tow? <\/p>\n
SECTOR 1<\/p>\n
A 1:15.544 was enough for Le\u00f3n to secure top spot on Friday, with next-best Alexander Dunne logging a 1:15.673 – 0.129s down on the pole time. <\/p>\n
Analysing the sector times from each of their fastest laps, it\u2019s easy to see the impact of the slipstream in Sector 1. <\/p>\n
Dunne\u2019s fastest lap was achieved with the best overall split through the opening sector of the Qualifying session, 18.851s giving him a purple S1, just under a full tenth of a second better than Le\u00f3n managed on his pole lap. <\/p>\n
The 287.6KM\/H of the Rodin driver compared to a 285.7KM\/H for Le\u00f3n shows a narrow advantage, but an important one, nonetheless.<\/p>\n
Dunne opted to run with a slipstream which ended up as the slower option in QualifyingSECTOR 2<\/p>\n
The second sector of the lap begins with uphill braking into the tight right-hander of Turn 3. Corner exit is critical as it leads into the next DRS zone and the long downhill blast to Turn 4. <\/p>\n
Drivers then must tackle a deceptively tricky downhill braking zone at T4, with another important traction zone leading to Turns 5 and 6 before completing the second sector. <\/p>\n
Here, Le\u00f3n pulled time back overall versus Dunne, who actually has the slowest middle sector time of the top trio in Qualifying when bringing Nikola Tsolov into the equation also. <\/p>\n
33.346s for the Irishman compares to a 33.287s for Tsolov and a 33.221s for Le\u00f3n. The latter\u2019s lap was of course unimpeded by anyone else after Campos put him out with half the session to go on an empty circuit. <\/p>\n
Tsolov was following the TRIDENT of John Bennett, while Dunne was in the queue directly behind the Bulgarian. <\/p>\n
While Le\u00f3n did achieve the fastest final sector of the session, it was the middle sector where he made the most difference compared to Dunne and Tsolov.<\/p>\n
![\"Le\u00f3n](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2283440046.jpeg\"\/)
Le\u00f3n made an empty track count for his first ever F2 pole positionSECTOR 3<\/p>\n
With a purple final sector, Le\u00f3n closed the lap with a tidy end to the lap. He did it without having to worry about dirty air from a car ahead which may have counted for around half a tenth of a second. <\/p>\n
But the deficit in time following the opening two sectors was too much for his closest challengers to overturn in the final third of the lap, and the Campos driver was able to sit in the pitlane and celebrate a maiden Formula 2 pole position. <\/p>\n
Upon reflection, Dunne said post-Qualifying that the balance of his Rodin was more optimal without a driver directly ahead to take advantage of slipstream. <\/p>\n
\u201cI did run one by myself and then I did my best lap behind Nico.\u202fActually,\u202fdoing it by yourself was\u202fprobably more\u202fbeneficial.\u202fI think the balance of the car and the feeling I had in clean\u202fair,\u202fI felt a lot more comfortable than when I was following.\u202f <\/p>\n
\u201cSo\u202fsomething obviously has changed this year because\u202fit’s\u202fquite rare that clean air is quicker here.\u202fNoel\u202fdid\u202fa very good\u202fjob of\u202fmaximising\u202fthat with a different strategy to everyone else and in the\u202fend,\u202fit paid off.\u201d <\/p>\n
Something for the teams to reconsider for their next visit to Spielberg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Qualifying in Spielberg is always an interesting session that is split by hundredths of a second, and we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-770977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}