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Lewis Hamilton was quickest in qualifying, but due to his engine component change, the Brit will start tomorrow’s race outside the top 10 from 11th.
His Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, finished qualifying in second, however, he moves up to first with the Finn starting alongside Max Verstappen on the front row of the grid.
Q1
The two Alfa Romeo’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi were out of the pit lane first as the rest of the grid joined them out on the track moments later.
Carlos Sainz was the first driver that went off the circuit as the Spaniard lacked tyre temperature and voiced his concerns to his engineer.
Sainz’s ex-McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, set the first competitive lap time of the session with a 1:28.079. The Brit quickly fell down to third as Hamilton posted a quicker time to move up to first.
Drops of rain started to fall but that did not phase Verstappen as he went fastest. His reign at the top didn’t last long as Hamilton reclaimed his advantage.
With five minutes to go, a shock top three emerged as Gasly set a 1:25.486 to claim first ahead of Alonso in second and Leclerc in third.
However, it was Hamilton that ended the session topping the timing screens with Verstappen and Gasly rounding out the top three.
The drivers eliminated were: Daniel Ricciardo, Nicholas Latifi, Antonio Giovinazzi, Kimi Raikkonen and Nikita Mazepin.
Q2
Hamilton led the drivers out of the pit lane for the start of Q2 as the two Mercedes drivers ran with the yellow-striped medium tyres for the session.
The Brit set a 1:29.687 which was over five seconds slower than his teammate Bottas with the Finn claiming first early on.
Fernando Alonso and the two AlphaTauri’s of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda made up the top four as the track continued to dry up.
Verstappen and Hamilton continued their battle for the top spot with the Dutchman going quickest only to be displaced by the Brit moments later.
Out of the final corner, Leclerc had a spin which halted his progress as he was looked to improve on his 10th place.
Alonso set the timing screens alight as he set a purple sector one and a green sector two which saw him move up to third.
Lance Stroll was another driver that struggled with his tyres as he locked up and went on at turn one. George Russell’s costly mistake out of the final corner saw him miss out on Q3 by the slimmest of margins.
Sebastian Vettel, Esteban Ocon, Mick Schumacher and Carlos Sainz, who will start at the back of the grid due to an engine penalty, were knocked out of qualifying alongside the Williams driver.
Q3
Once again, Hamilton was out of the pit lane first ahead of the top 10 shootout. The Brit set a 1:23.043 with Bottas going two-hundredths quicker to take provisional pole.
With five minutes to go, everyone completed their first competitive runs of the session. The two Mercedes’ of Bottas and Hamilton sat first and second ahead of Verstappen in third.
As everyone returned to their garages, Hamilton came out to start his final out lap of the session. He was able to go quicker than his teammate as he claimed pole position but Bottas inherited that privilege due to Hamilton’s grid penalty.
This meant that Max Verstappen moved up to second ahead of Charles Leclerc in third, Pierre Gasly in fourth, Fernando Alonso in fifth, Sergio Perez in sixth, Lando Norris in seventh, Lance Stroll in eighth, Yuki Tsunoda in ninth and Sebastian Vettel entered the top 10 with Lewis Hamilton starting from 11th.
What’s Next?
Valtteri Bottas will have a clear view down to turn one as he aims to keep the Red Bull of Max Verstappen behind him at all costs. Lewis Hamilton will throw everything at the cause as he will look to make it through the pack as he starts from outside the top 10.
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