Russell takes “surprising” Pole Position with Antonelli right behind

Q1

First on the track was Alexander Albon in Williams followed by half of the grid. Within two minutes all cars went out with Oscar Piastri’s first fast attempt of 1:15. 105 seconds. There was an incident in the pitlane caused by Fernando Alonso which is going to be investigated after the race as his team released him unsafely.

With eight minutes remaining George Russell complained on the radio that the car feels worse than yesterday but he still managed to set fastest lap. Charles Leclerc got his time deleted because of track limits violation.

With four minutes remaining Kimi Antonelli topped the standings with time 1:13.380 seconds. By that time Oliver Bearman reported that something fell off his car.

As was this part coming to an end Ferrari called Leclerc to the boxes as they suspected a technical problem on his car. Despite the problem Leclerc qualified safely for next part.

Eliminated in Q1: Esteban Ocon (Haas), Alexander Albon (Williams), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Sergio Perez (Cadillac), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)

Q2

First car on the track was Colapinto followed by the rest of the grid. Lando Norris did two out laps for his first fast attempt as the temperatures slightly dropped and other drivers had to done so, too.

With 10 minutes to go Isack Hadjar topped the standings with time 1:13.623 seconds but soon other drivers beat that time with major gaps. Hadjar later improved his time and got on third position with seven minutes remaining.

Verstappen, running on sixth, complained on the radio that he is struggling to get the tires into ideal temperature window: “Like, compared to the yesterday. The out lap is like I’m driving on ice.”

Isack Hadjar topped the second part of qualifying with time 1:12.975 seconds with Hamilton, Norris, Antonelli and Russell behind.

Eliminated in Q2: Nico Hulkenberg (Audi), Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Carlos Sainz (Williams), Oliver Bearman (Haas)

Q3

Before this part Leclerc reported on the radio that he is struggling a lot with the car and he wasn’t really optimistic about Q3.

With 10 minutes remaining Red Bull drivers locked front row with both McLaren drivers behind. Not too long after Norris topped the standings with time 1:12.729 seconds.

Mercedes drivers, who have one of the fastest cars on the grid, were nineth and tenth with seven minutes remaining. Russell later drove two out laps and got on provisional third place two minutes before the end.

Antonelli took provisional pole position with half a minute remaining. Norris didn’t beat his time in his last attempt but then Russell put his last lap together and got on pole position. He commented right after the session, quoted by the official Formula 1 website: “That last lap came from nowhere, such a great feeling when it was such a challenging session. That was epic.”