Q1 started with Lindblad setting the first fast lap of the session. Ferrari and Red Bull drove these first laps on medium tyres, but later in this phrase changed for softs. Hamilton radioed to the pit wall later about his feeling in the car: “It feels good, the car, just had some snaps. Particularly under braking.” On the other hand, Verstappen was struggling as he did the whole weekend, but he managed to set a representative lap and finished Q1 eight. First 16 drivers finished within 1 second. Eliminated were Sainz, Albon, Alonso, Bottas, Stroll, Perez.

In Q2 almost all teams went on track to set their first fast laps of this session. At the top of the standings were Mercedes and Ferrari, even though Hamilton’s gap to Russell on straight was 0.88 seconds as the graphic showed. Minute before end Antonelli was leading Q2. At the end of this phrase, yellow flag was called because Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto went off track so some drivers’ laps were cancelled, but it didn’t affect them much. After the session Russell reported that his car is strongly understeering saying that it might be front wing damage. Eliminated were Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Ocon, Lawson, Lindblad, Bortoleto.

Right before Q3 Mercedes decided to change Russell’s front wing. But when he went to set a time he stopped on the track reporting problems to his team and caused a yellow flag. He managed to get his car driving and went immediately to the boxes saying over the radio that he can’t shift gears. The mechanics started repairing the car, changed his steering wheel and 2.15 minutes before the end he managed to get back on track and set second fastest time. Meanwhile Antonelli drove a really good lap which made him the youngest ever pole sitter.

Right after the session, Antonelli commented, quoted by the official F1 website: “Was a pretty clean session, so really happy. Of course George had an issue, so would have been cool to see him with two sets. I saw he had an issue, but I just tried to keep my focus and deliver a good lap.” Russell praised his team for doing a really good job adding that in his last lap he had no battery and no tyre temperature.

Qualifying results:

1st – Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
2nd – George Russell (Mercedes) – +0.222
3rd – Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – +0.351
4th – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – +0.364
5th – Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – +0.486
6th – Lando Norris (McLaren) – +0.544
7th – Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – +0.809
8th – Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – +0.938
9th – Isack Hadjar (Red Bull Racing) – +1.057
10th – Oliver Bearman (Haas F1 Team) – +1.228
11th – Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) – +1.290
12th – Franco Colapinto (Alpine) – +1.293
13th – Esteban Ocon (Haas F1 Team) – +1.474
14th – Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) – +1.701
15th – Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) – +1.720
16th – Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) – +1.901
17th – Carlos Sainz (Williams) – +2.253
18th – Alexander Albon (Williams) – +2.708
19th – Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – +3.139
20th – Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) – +3.372
21st – Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – +3.931
22nd – Sergio Perez (Cadillac) – +4.842