Key events
Giles Richards’ qualifying report
Storylines for tomorrow …
1. Can McLaren’s Norris and Piastri at least claim enough points to slow down Verstappen’s charge toward the top of the standings?
2. No, seriously, can Norris and Piastri claim enough points to nullify the sense that Verstappen is destined to take this again?
3. Will Leclerc and Hamilton get one or both Ferraris on the podium?
4. Is Bearman poised for his first top-five finish?
5. Will Lawson and Tsunoda, 12th and 13th on the grid, get through the race without incident or argument?
Join us tomorrow and find out. See you then.
Verstappen says things were a bit messy as he went around looking for a final qualifying attempt, but he didn’t need it, of course. The wind picked up and made things tricky – cars losing downforce with a tailwind. “You can’t commit as much as you normally can in Sector 1.”
Norris: “It was a bit more of a struggle today for whatever reason. … We were both struggling quite a bit more. I’m still happy with P2. It could’ve been worse.”
Indeed.
Norris on his strategy tomorrow: “Don’t get hit.” Always good.
Leclerc: “It was quite a big surprise considering the weekend has been difficult for us. I think there are still some things we need to understand from this car. I think we’ve learned a lot and applied that in qualifying.”
Final standings
1. Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Norris (McLaren)
3. Leclerc (Ferrari)
4. Russell (Mercedes)
5. Hamilton (Ferrari)
6. Piastri (McLaren)
7. Antonelli (Mercedes)
8. Bearman (Hass)
9. Sainz (Williams)
10. Alonso (Aston Martin)
11. Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber)
12. Lawson (Racing Bulls)
13. Tsunoda (Red Bull)
14. Gasly (Alpine)
15. Colapinto (Alpine)
16. Bortoleto (Kick Sauber)
17. Ocon (Haas)
18. Stroll (Aston Martin)*
19. Albon (Williams)
20. Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
Stroll faces a five-place grid penalty, so he’ll be all the way back.
Piastri comes across in a stunning sixth, barely holding on ahead of Bearman.
Norris is 0.006 ahead of Leclerc!
Norris improves, but not enough to best Verstappen.
Verstappen doesn’t make it to the start line in time! Can anyone top his time?
Verstappen radio: “We need to go, currently behind schedule.” He’s on the track but needs to get around in time to start a final attempt.
Just 1:45 left, so every driver is going to get one more shot at this.
Leclerc’s final effort is underway.
Leclerc is the first to head out again, followed by Hamilton and Bearman.
Does Verstappen even need to try again?
We have a replay that explains Leclerc’s time – he did a 360-degree spin. He kept going, but that obviously cost him some time.
We’ve got 4:25 left. Every driver is in the pit.
With one lap done for each driver, it’s Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Antonelli, Bearman (!?), Sainz, Piastri (!!??), Alonso, Hamilton and Leclerc.
What happened to the Ferraris?
Norris takes the lead!
For about 30 seconds, because Verstappen dashes across in 1:32.510.
Russell breaks the 1:33 mark at 1:32.959. Antonelli follows his teammate to move into second.
Leclerc must have had an issue because he’s more than four seconds back.
Bearman posts the first time of the last session at 1:33.139.
Piastri is 0.336 slower!
And they’re off …
Questions for Q3:
Another pole for Verstappen?
Are the Ferraris for real?
Can Piastri find some speed?
Replay shows another burst of anger from Tsunoda.
Now 2:30 until Q3.
Q2 results
1. Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Leclerc (Ferrari)
3. Norris (McLaren)
4. Hamilton (Ferrari)
5. Antonelli (Mercedes)
6. Russell (Mercedes)
7. Sainz (Williams)
8. Piastri (McLaren)
9. Alonso (Aston Martin)
10. Bearman (Haas)
—
11. Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber)
12. Lawson (Racing Bulls)
13. Tsunoda (Red Bull)
14. Gasly (Alpine)
15. Colapinto (Alpine)
Colapinto stays 14th. Teammate Gasly comes across faster than Colapinto but no one else.
The clock has hit zero, so no more laps can start. Hamilton is in the midst of an unnecessary lap.
Tsunoda (13th) and Hulkenberg (11th) finish their attempts and fail to improve.
Colapinto is on his last-ditch effort now.
Russell moves up to sixth.
Hulkenberg drops to 11th, Bearman on the bubble at 10th, Alonso ninth … and Piastri eighth!
Just 2:10 remaining.
Gasly and Colapinto, the last two in the Q2 standings for now, tear out of the Alpine garage like Imperial fighters leaving the bay of the Death Star.
Waiting on a time from Russell …
Everyone’s on soft tires.
Russell now appears to be the only driver on the track. Still 5 minutes to go, so they’ve got plenty of time to get out to try again.
Piastri has a lap on the board, but it’s just seventh. That make him a bit nervous.
Tsunoda (Red Bull) is furious with Lawson (Racing Bulls). The two drivers switched teams early in the season, so the sub plats here are immense.
Most drivers are in pit lane except Hamilton and Russell, the latter of whom needs a good lap to jump up from 12th.
Gasly exceeded track limits, which is F1-speak for “hey, you can’t go on that part of the pavement.”
Here come the Ferraris – Leclerc second and Hamilton fourth, sandwiching Norris.
Finally, something goes right for McLaren. It’s Lando Norris breaking 1:33 to take the lead for now.
… and Verstappen immediately takes it for himself.
The Alpines of Gasly and Colapinto don’t threaten the leaders, but Sainz jumps into second, just 0.080 behind Antonelli.
Antonelli is in at 1:33.044, followed by Bearman, Lawson and a surprisingly pedestrian lap from Russell.
Q2 is underway, and Hamilton is still in the garage along with teammate Leclerc. So is Piastri.
We’ll have some times posted in about one minute.
Q1 results
1. Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Russell (Mercedes)
3. Antonelli (Mercedes)
4. Leclerc (Ferrari)
5. Lawson (Racing Bulls)
6. Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber)
7. Gasly (Alpine)
8. Hamilton (Ferrari)
9. Sainz (Williams)
10. Alonso (Aston Martin)
11. Piastri (McLaren)
12. Norris (McLaren)
13. Bearman (Haas)
14. Tsunoda (Red Bull)
15. Colapinto (Alpine)
—
16. Bortoleto (Kick Sauber)
17. Ocon (Haas)
18. Stroll (Aston Martin)
19. Albon (Williams)
20. Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
Colapinto (15th) and Tsunoda (14th) get the reprieves as Stroll and Albon go too wide in the turns and have their times knocked off the board.
Missing out on Q2: Bortoleto, Ocon, Stroll, Albon, Hadjar.
Alex Albon jumps up to eighth! Or not. Time deleted. Down to 18th.
Lance Stroll’s time is deleted! He’s 19th. At least the five-place grid penalty won’t affect him too much.
