Lando Norris continues his strong weekend by taking pole position while Verstappen is knocked out in Q1.
Q1
Max Verstappen’s championship hopes took a massive hit after a poor run in Q1. The car was seemingly undrivable throughout, resulting in him being knocked out in 16th place. However, he will take solace in knowing that he won this race from a similar starting position last year.
Verstappen would be joined by his teammate Yuki Tsunoda in having a Q1 elimination, this weekend not being a good one for the Japanese driver so far.
Gabriel Bortoleto would’ve hoped for a strong showing at his first full qualifying session at his home race, however he was unable to take part after his big crash at the end of the sprint race.
ELIMINATED
16. Max Verstappen – Red Bull +0.066
17. Esteban Ocon – Haas +0.101
18. Franco Colapinto – Alpine +0.295
19. Yuki Tsunoda – Red Bull +0.374
20. Gabriel Bortoleto – Kick Sauber NO TIME
Q2
Lewis Hamilton would have another troubled qualifying session, having a second elimination in the second part of qualifying this weekend, the Ferrari car continuing to look hard to drive.
It would be another Ferrari powered car though taking the headlines in this part of qualifying, with Ollie Bearman going second fastest in this session following a third place finish in Q1. It would be intriguing to see where he ended up in the final qualifying session.
ELIMINATED
11. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +0.016
12. Alex Albon – Williams +0.068
13. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari +0.115
14. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.176
15. Carlos Sainz – Williams +0.487
Q3
Piastri would take provisional pole position after everyone’s initial runs, going only 2 thousandths of a second quicker than Leclerc. Norris would make a mistake by locking up at turn one, where he would lose 9 tenths and provisionally in 10th place.
Bearman put in his worst lap of the session so far after his first run, but it was still good enough to be in a provisional fourth place. He would go on to have an even worse final lap, failing to improve his time, and would fall down to seventh place.
Charles Leclerc would briefly go on to take provisional pole from Piastri, before Norris would smash that time by nearly three tenths. Piastri would fail to get close to that time, taking fourth spot, while Antonelli would continue his strong weekend with another front row start, cutting Norris’ gap at the top to a little under two tenths.
Qualifying results
1. Lando Norris – McLaren 1:09.511
2. Andrea Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes +0.174
3. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.294
4. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +0.375
5. Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls +0.420
6. George Russell – Mercedes +0.431
7. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls +0.451
8. Ollie Bearman – Haas +0.466
9. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.491
10. Nico Hulkenberg – Kick Sauber +0.528
