We had a truly thrilling and twist-filled qualifying session, which also featured a surprise: Carlos Sainz will start from pole position tomorrow!
After the first fast laps of Q1, Max Verstappen jumped into the lead, but behind him, the drivers changed frequently. Pierre Gasly, Nico Hülkenberg and later Verstappen returned there, as Lando Norris stole the lead. In the end, the first stage was won by Norris, ahead of Carlos Sainz and Verstappen, while among the eliminated, to great surprise, were Oscar Piastri, Sergio Perez, Franco Collapinto, Esteban Ocon, as well as Guanyu Zhou.
Q2 was again about the duo of Norris and Verstappen, but the Mercedes closed in on them. Scuderia Ferrari seemed to be suffering at that point. During the second attempts, the reds made a big improvement, so that Sainz was able to catch up with the Norris-Verstappen pair who won Q2. Many were not so lucky, as those who started the fast laps late had to retire due to an accident and a red flag. At this stage, the two Aston Martins, the two VISA Racing Bulls and Valtteri Bottas were eliminated.
After the first attempts in Q3, in a surprising manner, we read the names of Sainz, Leclerc, Russell in the lead, while Norris and Verstappen occupied only the fifth and tenth places. Carlos Sainz focused very seriously and this evening he did not find an opponent. The Spaniard achieved a clear pole position in front of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, thus gaining a serious chance to separate from the Italian team with a victory.
