Lando Norris asked "why are they complaining?" after Max Verstappen's angry radio message directed at the Austrian Grand Prix stewards.
The session was frustrating for most of the drivers. The stewards were showing no leniency whatsoever when it came to track limits violations, applying the rules to the letter of the law.
Given the short but high-speed nature of the Spielberg circuit, there were always going to be plenty of examples of drivers going over the line. And that proved to be the case as the stewards scrubbed dozens of times.
In total, 47 laps were deleted over the course of qualifying. And even the dominant Red Bull cars were not immune to breaking track limits rules.
Verstappen had one time deleted in Q1 and another in the second part of the session. Neither proved to be costly as he still qualified on pole, but he still angrily said over the radio: "This is a joke, honestly, with these track limits. F***ing ridiculous."
His team-mate Sergio Perez went out in Q2 after having three consecutive hot laps deleted. And he too was annoyed with the stewards, reacting to his early exit by saying: "What a f***ing joke, with the track limits."
Given the pace advantage the Red Bulls have, Perez didn't need to be pushing quite so hard to guarantee his spot in Q3. And that was the point Norris made after the session when he was asked about what it was like out on track.
"They have the quickest car, why are they complaining?" the McLaren racer smirked when told by Sky Sports what the Red Bull drivers had said. He then added: "It’s been the same here for a number of years so I wouldn't say it's any different. It's just we're drivers so we always complain and it's just so easy to do, which is the issue.
"You don't want to be thinking about it every single corner but there are compromises. You have to tell yourself to lift off and you never want to do it ever but at times I feel the Red Bull is too quick to lift off and lose a tenth."
Verstappen was able to lift off to avoid going over the white lines and still qualify on pole, narrowly ahead of Charles Leclerc who produced a monster lap. But Ferrari will still be pleased with the result as both their drivers are starting directly behind Verstappen in Sunday's race, while Norris joins Carlos Sainz on the second row.
