Max Verstappen grabs another sprint qualifying pole position, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri not too far behind.
SQ1
As the session started, no one went out on track immediately, despite not having as much time as in qualifying. Only when there were nine minutes to go, the first drivers left the pit lane.
After the first attempt, it was George Russell in P1, with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris behind. Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri were in P4 and P5. Lewis Hamilton had already done his first lap, but he had it canceled due to track limits.
Max Verstappen then snatched the first place away from Russell, going 0.074s faster. Lance Stroll also set a competitive lap time, going fifth fastest. Sergio Perez only managed to go eight fastest.
Hamilton didn’t do a very clean lap, but he still managed to get into SQ2. Both Alpines made it into SQ2 once again, while Logan Sargeant placed in P14 and outqualified Alexander Albon, who was eliminated. The other drivers who didn’t make the cut were Zhou Guanyu (P20), Valtteri Bottas (P18), Nico Hülkenberg (P17), and Daniel Ricciardo (P16).
SQ2
The first lap of the second part of qualifying saw Verstappen go fastest once again. He was ahead of Russell by 0.139s, and Piastri wasn’t that far away either, with a gap of 0.193s. Sainz and Leclerc were fourth and fifth, with Hamilton, Norris, and Perez behind.
In the end, both Red Bulls, McLarens, Mercedes, Ferraris, and Alpines made it through. The ones eliminated were Sargeant, Yuki Tsunoda, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, and Kevin Magnussen.
It was a great performance by Alpine once again, proving that they are finally finding more performance after a difficult first part of the season.
SQ3
For the SQ3, every driver decided to do only one lap. Therefore, despite it being 8 minutes long, the drivers only went out with 3 minutes to go.
Hamilton was the first one to set a lap, but he made a mistake in turn 3. Leclerc couldn’t set his time, as he went out too late. Verstappen took the sprint qualifying pole position, with Norris just 0.093s behind. Piastri was third, with Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Perez, Ocon, Gasly, and Leclerc behind.