The build up to Qualifying was a tale of ailing drivers; Sainz was back in the car after abdominal surgery and Albon was in his team mate's car after destroying the chassis in Free Practice.
In the heavy Alpine, Gasly crossed a vital white line and would be penalised by the stewards. The Frenchman must be on the watch list for drivers who might be racing in a different series next year. No one noticed that Zhou's front wing was broken as he went around. He was out last with both Haas (temporarily) and Gasly. Then Ricciardo had a time deleted and put Magnussen back into the action. The Australian never has any luck at his home track.
The Mercedes continued to struggle and Hamilton was knocked out in 11th in Q2 ahead of Albon, Bottas, Magnussen and Ocon. Verstappen was complaining a lot about understeer, which left the Ferraris dominating the session so far.
On to the final Qualifying session and Alonso made a poor start with a trip through the gravel. Piastri rode across a kerb. The game played out as it always does, Verstappen comes from being slightly behind, Red Bull turn up the gas and takes pole position. Next to him was a slightly-lighter-than-at-Bahrain Sainz. Perez held third and LeClerc abandoned his lap when he knew he wasn't going any quicker. So Norris starts 4th and Piastri is the other side of the Ferrari driver in 6th. Russell was the highest finishing Mercedes in 7th, then Tsunoda, Stroll and Alonso. Finally the owners son out qualifies his team mate. The stewards would then give Perez a three place grid penalty for impeding Hulkenberg.
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