Max Verstappen took an astonishing pole at a track which was expected to favour Mercedes. The silver arrows line up behind with Perez in 4th, a tantalising prospect for raceday.
Q1
After the chaos of qualifying in Baku, a more refined session was expected this time around. However, the red flags were out again within 3 minutes. Tsunoda guilty of his second red flag in two qualifying sessions. He lost the rear of his Alpha Tauri right out of turn 1 and backed into the barriers.
10 minutes later, the session was underway again, with a queue of cars forming in the pits, keen to get a lap in. This would later prove to be crucial. Verstappen took the initial fastest time with Hamilton filing in just behind. Perez took 3rd from Bottas ahead of a hard charging Norris.
As the cars were starting their final runs, Schumacher caused the second red flag of the session after a collision with the barriers in turn 7. This gave him his first appearance in Q2, even though he wouldn’t be able to take part.
This massively impacted Stroll, who had his initial run cancelled due to track limits. He was unable to finish his lap, leaving him out with no laptime next to his name.
Russell managed to continue his run of Q2 appearances, but only 0.002s ahead of his team-mate. Both Williams were unable to finish their final flying runs.
Eliminated
- 16th Latifi
- 17th Raikkonen
- 18th Mazepin
- 19th Stroll
- 20th Tsunoda
Q2
Red Bull again topped the timesheets starting out, but this time Perez took bragging rights. Sainz managed to pip the two Mercedes, while Norris’ strong lap time was deleted due to track limits. Hamilton later edged out Perez, by only 0.02s.
As the session came to a close, Ocon was unable to maximise his potential at home. However, 11th will give him the choice of strategy, which may gift him a few positions early on tomorrow. Vettel was disappointed with 12th while Giovinazzi managed a strong 13th, ahead of Russell.
- 11th Ocon
- 12th Vettel
- 13th Giovinazzi
- 14th Russell
- 15th Schumacher
Q3
Verstappen took provisional pole, 0.4s ahead of Hamilton. Perez played the support role in 3rd, fending off Bottas. With one more flying lap to go, all eyes were on Red Bull and their sudden, resurgent form.
On the last runs, all cars were improving their times by significant margins. Verstappen was the first the cross the line and improved his time by half a second. Bottas took 2nd, which was then stolen by Hamilton. Perez was unable to get back into the top 3, finishing 4th. Sainz managed to out qualify his team-mate and Gasly impressed yet again, separating the Ferraris. Norris managed another top 10 qualifying finish, ahead of Alonso and Ricciardo
Top 10
- Verstappen
- Hamilton
- Bottas
- Perez
- Sainz
- Gasly
- Leclerc
- Norris
- Alonso
- Ricciardo
So, another superb set up for the race tomorrow. Similarly to Catalunya, Paul Ricard isn’t noted for on track action. However, Spain became an incredibly entertaining strategy battle. Will we see the same again tomorrow?
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