The final hour before qualifying began quietly, with only a few drivers heading out straight away. It took several minutes before others joined in, with Max Verstappen among the first to appear and put down an early reference time on medium tyres. Even after ten minutes, fewer than half the field had set a lap, and Verstappen’s early run kept him provisionally on top.

Grip was still a challenge in the cooler conditions, and Hamilton found it difficult to get his Ferrari settled, locking up several times and briefly running wide. As the track started to improve, Carlos Sainz and the two Alpine drivers switched to soft tyres, with Sainz immediately jumping to the top of the standings. Verstappen remained fastest of those on mediums, followed by Yuki Tsunoda and the Ferrari duo.

Oscar Piastri left his garage later than most, heading out around 15 minutes into the session. His first attempt was nearly a second slower than his teammate Norris, who was already showing strong pace. Norris then went fastest overall, with Russell and Antonelli bringing their Mercedes cars up into the mix as the times tightened. With around 20 minutes left, the leading six drivers were separated by less than a tenth of a second.

George Russell briefly took over the top spot with a tidy lap on medium tyres, before the teams switched to softs for their qualifying simulations. Alex Albon looked set for a strong lap until a small mistake in the stadium section forced him to abandon his run. Piastri improved his time but was soon overtaken by Charles Leclerc, before Kimi Antonelli went even quicker to move into first. Verstappen followed closely behind, just 0.064 seconds slower.

As the track continued to evolve, Hamilton strung together a clean and fast lap to go top by two tenths. But the final word belonged to Norris, who delivered a superb effort with the fastest times in all three sectors, finishing 0.345 seconds clear of his fellow Brit. Piastri and Verstappen were unable to match that pace, both ending roughly six tenths adrift of the McLaren.

When the chequered flag fell, Norris remained first ahead of Hamilton and Russell, completing a strong British showing at the top. Behind them, Leclerc and Piastri rounded out the top five, with Verstappen in sixth after complaining of low grip. Antonelli, Hadjar, Tsunoda, and Bortoleto completed the top ten.