A truly exciting, twist-and-turn qualifying session, with a surprising result: Carlos Sainz will take pole position tomorrow!
After the first few fast laps of Q1, Max Verstappen took the lead, but was overtaken by the drivers behind him. Pierre Gasly, Nico Hülkenberg and later Verstappen took the lead as Lando Norris took the lead. In the end, Norris won the first stage ahead of Carlos Sainz and Verstappen, with Oscar Piasti, Sergio Perez, Franco Collapinto, Esteban Ocon and Guanyu Zhou surprisingly finishing among the dropouts.
Q2 was also marked by the duel between Norris and Verstappen, but the Mercedes also came close behind them. Scuderia Ferrari was clearly still suffering at that time. However, after the second attempts, the reds improved significantly, and Sainz managed to get closer to the Norris-Verstappen pair, who won Q2. Many were not so lucky, as those who started their second fast lap late were unable to finish due to an accident and a red flag. Two Aston Martins, two VISA Racing Bulls and Valtteri Bottas were eliminated at this stage.
After the first attempts in Q3 we surprisingly saw the names Sainz, Leclerc, Russell at the top, while Norris and Verstappen only occupied fifth and tenth positions. However, Carlos Sainz was very focused and did not find a winner this evening. The Spaniard gained a clear pole position ahead of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, thus seriously securing the chance to say goodbye to the Italian team with a victory.
