Charles Leclerc takes his second pole position of the season, with Max Verstappen starting 6th after having his final lap time deleted which would have seen him go fastest.
Q1
Haas brought upgrades for their home grand prix, switching over to the concept Red Bull popularised last season. It looked to have initially provided a boost in pace for the team, with Magnussen ending the session in 7th, whilst Hulkenberg would at one point be fastest of anybody. However, Hulkenberg began to fall down the order, and after having his time deleted on his final run, he was ultimately knocked out in 16th.
Aston Martin’s recent form continues to dip further as both cars are knocked out in Q1. Whilst Stroll hasn’t escaped Q1 since the summer break, this is the first time Alonso has failed to even make Q3 this season. This however might be partially explained away though by the fact that he did have to contend with traffic on his final flying lap, which would have compromised his pace.
Daniel Ricciardo returns to the paddock this week after suffering hand injuries during practice for the Dutch Grand Prix. Fortunately it seemed like he hadn’t been hampered too much by the setback, as he was able to narrowly escape Q1 in 15th place.
ELIMINATED
16. Nico Hulkenberg – Haas +0.022
17. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +0.055
18. Alex Albon – Williams +0.102
19. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.376
20. Logan Sargeant – Williams +0.614
Q2
Daniel Ricciardo’s day came to an end after having his final lap time deleted for exceeding track limits. He will start Sunday’s race from 15th, whilst teammate Tsunoda is in 11th, being knocked out by just 18 thousandths of a second.
Zhou Guanyu qualified right behind Tsunoda, only going one thousandth slower than the Alpha Tauri. Despite being so agonisingly close to moving up the grid, Zhou can at least take solace in having beaten his teammate, with this being the first time he has outqualified Bottas since Hungary.
ELIMINATED
11. Yuki Tsunoda – Alpha Tauri +0.018
12. Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo +0.019
13. Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo +0.179
14. Kevin Magnussen – Haas +0.201
15. Daniel Ricciardo – Alpha Tauri +0.295
Q3
Leclerc set the pace early on, setting a provisional pole time of 1:34.829, and then going on to improve that by over a tenth of a second to take the 21st pole of his career on his 100th race for Ferrari. He is joined on the front row by Lando Norris.
Hamilton had looked quick in his Mercedes, having gone a little over half a tenth slower than Leclerc in their first runs. On his final run, he had set a personal best sector 1, but had lost time in sector two, and wasn’t able to gain back enough time to climb any higher than third.
Things didn’t appear to entirely line up for Max Verstappen in Q3. His first qualifying lap had been somewhat compromised at the final corner, presumably from dirty air coming from his teammate ahead. On his final run, he was able to squeak past Leclerc by five thousandths of a second to take pole position, only for his lap time to be deleted as he went slightly too wide on the penultimate corner. This means he will have his work cut out for him to try and win the race on Sunday, given that he is starting sixth at a track that hasn’t been won by a driver starting outside of the front row before.
Qualifying Results
1. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari 1:34.723
2. Lando Norris – McLaren +0.130
3. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes +0.139
4. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari +0.222
5. George Russell – Mercedes +0.356
6. Max Verstappen – Red Bull +0.358
7. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.366
8. Esteban Ocon – Alpine +0.431
9. Sergio Perez – Red Bull +0.450
10. Oscar Piastri– McLaren +0.744
