China GP Qualifying Report

By the time we got to Qualifying for the China GP, I had no idea where we were in the weekend, with two events having already taken place.  This new format leaves Saturday's programme feeling very clunky.   Are we supposed to settle down on the sofa for the full day?  If you record and watch later, that's a long session.  It feels peculiar.

Nothing much happened in the first Qualifying session until the end.  Verstappen and Norris vied for the top spot but at the bottom it was a disaster.  Out went hometown hero Zhou, Magnussen, Hamilton, Tsunoda and Sargeant (having spun through the gravel).  Albon was through for the Williams, after an awful Sprint event for the team.  Ricciardo continues to outperform his team mate at this race, at last.

Midway through the second session, as Verstappen took a barn-storming first place, Sainz lost his rear end coming on to the final straight and spun.  The session was red-flagged although he kept the engine on and was able to get the car back to the pits, albeit missing a front wing.  I wondered if driving on the track under a red flag would be allowed.  Impossibly he finished the session in 3rd ahead of his team mate in 4th.  Out went Stroll (really struggling to show pace against his team mate), Ricciardo, Ocon, Albon and Gasly.  Ferrari radioed their driver to ask if the car seemed okay: "It would appear to be."

The final session passed without incident.  No one troubled Verstappen for pole position.  Bottas only took his Sauber out once and finished 10th.  Between them was Perez in second, then Alonso and Norris (who both held second and then disappointingly lost it), Piastri (a strong showing for McLaren), LeClerc, Sainz, Russell and Hulkenberg.