Max Verstappen continues his streak of taking every single pole position this season, on a weekend that looked like it initially could be a bit of a struggle for Red Bull.
Q1
Whilst the majority of drivers had gone out on soft compound tyres, there were a few who decided to experiment with mediums in this opening session of qualifying. Russell gave it a go, though decided to come back to the pits without setting a time. Both Ferraris however committed to the tyre for the whole of Q1, and managed to both make it comfortably within the top 7.
The track has provided a difficult challenge for the drivers this weekend, with multiple crashes having already taken place during practice. There weren’t any crashes in this session, but a couple of drivers did run themselves wide. Albon had taken to the gravel at the final turn, ruining that particular lap, though he would go on to set another lap that saw him through to Q2. Fernando Alonso was another who had also found himself going off track, running wide through the opening chicane of Tamburello.
Furthermore on Fernando Alonso, it appeared he was struggling for the entirety of Q1. On top of his excursion to the gravel, he was just generally slow on every attempt, perhaps still carrying some damage from the crash he had during FP3. Whatever the reason, he was unable to lift himself off the bottom spot.
ELIMINATED
16. Valtteri Bottas – Kick Sauber +0.022
17. Logan Sargeant – Williams +0.127
18. Zhou Guanyu – Kick Sauber +0.230
19. Kevin Magnussen – Haas +0.250
20. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +0.313
Q2
Sergio Perez was the surprise elimination in this Q2 session. Having had an improvement in his qualifying form so far this season compared to 2023, he was just unable to set a good enough time that would see him through into the final part of qualifying, whilst both drivers at RB were able to do so.
There were a couple of drivers that looked as though the could be at risk of a shock Q2 exit as well. For as well as the Ferrari upgrades look to be performing so far, Sainz had found himself on the bubble towards the end of the session, though would ultimately make it through in the end. The Mercedes still doesn’t looked to have closed the gap to the frontrunners all that much either, and Hamilton had come awfully close to being knocked out in Q1 as well, but both of them managed to make it through to Q3 as well.
ELIMINATED
11. Sergio Perez – Red Bull +0.219
12. Esteban Ocon – Alpine +0.171
13. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.022
14. Alex Albon – Williams +0.213
15. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.124
Q3
Max Verstappen set the early benchmark once again as he set an initial time of a 1:14.869, though a close fight for pole was brewing, with Norris going less than a tenth slower, and Leclerc in 4th just under 3 tenths behind, though one would expect that he would have more pace in hand.
However, he did not have that much more pace on his final lap. Leclerc had a poor first sector, but made gains in the second. Having then lost a little more time in the final sector, Leclerc was still a tenth behind Verstappen’s provisional time.
Verstappen himself would go on to dig deep right at the end, setting fastest sector after fastest sector on his way to the fastest lap of the weekend. Whilst Norris would take the fastest sector three, and Piastri the fastest sector 2, both McLarens found themselves slotting in behind Verstappen, albeit by less than a tenth.
Max Verstappen now equals the record for most consecutive pole positions from the start of a season, set by Alan Prost in 1993, as well as the most consecutive pole positions outright with 8, matching Ayrton Senna’s run from the 1988 Spanish Grand Prix to the 1989 US Grand Prix.
Qualifying results
1. Max Verstappen – Red Bull 1:14.746
2. Oscar Piastri– McLaren +0.074
3. Lando Norris – McLaren +0.091
4. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.224
5. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari +0.487
6. George Russell – Mercedes +0.488
7. Yuki Tsunoda – Alpha Tauri +0.719
8. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes +0.758
9. Daniel Ricciardo – RB +0.928
10. Nico Hulkenberg – Haas +1.234
