The superiority of Max Verstappen and his Red Bull was once again evident in the shooting race, which decided the starting positions for this afternoon’s sprint race. The Dutchman, as happened in yesterday’s qualifying, did not give his rivals any options, which on this occasion were his teammate Checo Pérez, and the surprising Lando Norris and Nico Hulkenberg. The Spaniards Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso finished fifth and seventh respectively.
From the start it seemed clear that the battle had to be between Verstappen and the Ferraris. The Italian team once again maintained the good rhythms of yesterday’s qualifying. Sainz, who started with brake problems and even had to pit for worrying white smoke coming from his car, set the fastest time in SQ2, while Leclerc saved a set of bandos for SQ3.
The disaster was in this case for Mercedes, which was not able to put any of its pilots in SQ3. The first to fall was Hamilton, who will start fifth on Sunday. In his case, the rain that fell in SQ1 complicated his options. Russell, with little rhythm, who was left in SQ2.
Already in the last stint the factor of the tires intervened decisively. Those riders who had new soft rubber set the best times, with the exception of Leclec. Verstappen started first on the new soft tires and set the best time of the day. Nobody would be able to improve their time in the next seven minutes. It was more difficult for Pérez, second in the end, to overtake Norris, also on a soft tyre. Hulkenberg surprised with fourth place thanks to the new medium tyre.
Behind them, but more than half a second later, the Ferraris appeared, unable to put up a fight at the decisive moment. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Stroll had to settle for modest seventh and eighth places. After raising expectations, the British team has failed to make the leap forward that was expected.
