George Russell set blisteringly quick laps in a Mercedes that looks to be the class of the field in the first qualifying session of the new regulations.
Q1
A few cars were facing some issues ahead of Q1, with Antonelli, Sainz and Stroll all looking like possible doubts for even making it out on track for qualifying.
They would each be given a potential lifeline and a few more minutes of repair time though, after a red flag was brought out after Verstappen crashed at turn 1 on his first qualifying lap, the rear axles of his car locking up and causing the four time world champion to spin.
Antonelli was able to get back out for the session and comfortably made it through to Q2, technical gremlins that have come from this new set of engine regulations proved too much to overcome in time for Sainz’s and Stroll’s garages.
For all the negativity surrounding Aston Martin and their Honda power unit heading into the season, Fernando Alonso was able to almost drag the car into Q2, somewhat helped by three drivers failing to set a lap. However, a lap from Colapinto at the death pushed the veteran down into 17th place and the quickest of those eliminated in Q1.
Cadillac made their first appearance on the Formula 1 grid as the newest entry into the sport, bringing the grid up to 22 cars, but Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas were unable to use their wealth of experience to drag the car up from the bottom of the timings.
ELIMINATED
17. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +0.722
18. Sergio Perez – Cadillac + 1.358
19. Valtteri Bottas – Cadillac + 1.997
20. Max Verstappen – Red Bull NO TIME
21. Carlos Sainz – Williams NO TIME
22. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin NO TIME
Q2
Audi are another new entry on this year’s grid, having taken over from what was once Sauber and developing their own power units. They did have a much more fruitful first qualifying session than Cadillac though, with Bortoleto just squeezing through into Q3 and Hulkenberg finding himself just about getting knocked out in 11th place.
Ferrari appeared to run into some issues with both Hamilton and Leclerc both not having the cleanest of sessions, though both would be able to safely make it through to the final part of qualifying.
Mercedes looked to be the class of the field coming out of pre season testing, and such rumours were very much confirmed particularly in Q2, with Russell setting times that others struggled to even get close to, putting him in good stead for pole position in Q3.
ELIMINATED
11. Nico Hulkenberg – Audi +0.082
12. Oliver Bearman – Haas +0.090
13. Esteban Ocon – Haas +0.270
14. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.280
15. Alexander Albon – Williams +0.720
16. Franco Colapinto – Alpine +1.049
Q3
The session was red flagged before much running was able to get underway, after Antonelli came out with coolers still attached to his car, which quickly fell off the car after he came out onto the track. Lando Norris had some bad luck in hitting the debris, which did appear to cause some damage but he would be okay to continue.
Norris had also had some deployment issues coming out of Q2, which were seemingly fixed as he put his car in P2 after everyone’s first runs, albeit half a second behind Russell.
As everyone came around for their final laps, Mercedes’ advantage over the rest of the field became apparent, with Russell going just shy of three tenths faster than his teammate Antonelli for pole position, who himself was five tenths faster than Hadjar in 3rd, albeit with a potential grid penalty looming over his head for the cooler incident.
However, the grid looked somewhat competitive in the fight for best of the rest, with less than two tenths separating Hadjar in 3rd and Hamilton in 7th.
Qualifying Results
1. George Russell – Mercedes 1:18.518
2. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes +0.293
3. Isack Hadjar- Red Bull +0.785
4. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.809
5. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +0.862
6. Lando Norris – McLaren +0.957
7. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari +0.960
8. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls +14.454
9. Arvid Lindblad – Racing Bulls +14.936
10. Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi NO TIME
