Max Verstappen topped the times in a turbulent qualifying session. Valtteri Bottas improved on yesterday’s performance while George Russell fell back to 7th.
Top of the Grid
Bottas took control early in the the session but was displaced by Verstappen during the Qualifying simulation runs. Russell appeared to have 2nd locked in, but fell back to 7th, 0.3s away from Bottas. Albon hasn’t been able to capitalise on Hamilton’s absence and finished 6th, 0.5s off his team-mate.
Yesterday Kvyat was the lead Alpha Tauri, but it was his team-mate who stole the limelight today. Gasly took an encouraging 3rd, while the Russian fell to 12th.
Mixed Midfield
Ocon occupied 4th, 10 places ahead of Ricciardo and, just behind, Norris saw a huge improvement to take 5th. His team-mate, Sainz could only take 10th.
Just behind Russell were the Racing Points, led by Perez. Stroll has closed the gap to 0.015s and will be looking to find his form from the first part of the season.
Giovinazzi was the lead Ferrari powered car in 11th, outclassing Raikkonen by almost half a second, in 16th. Ferrari had started the session strong, holding 3rd and 4th for the majority of the running. But a positive session turned sour for both Cars. Vettel’s car picked up an issue and it is expected that the power unit will have to be changed. He finished 15th while Leclerc sunk to 13th.
Magnussen and Latifi were the last of the regular drivers, both not improving from their performance yesterday.
Aitken and Fittipaldi brought up the rear of the grid. Fittipaldi won out, but only by 0.004s.
A bit of a wakeup call for Russell, but it doesn’t seem plain sailing for Bottas. Verstappen will be aware of the opportunity in front and, with nothing to lose, will be aggressive. Qualifying takes place in just under 2 hours and it may be the closest competition we see this season.
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
