Bortoleto went into SQ1 with a five place grid penalty hanging over him. It was a fairly boring session until the last milliseconds when Antonelli knocked Hamilton out - thanks for the seat mate! It looked like Aston Martin were going to be strong with Alonso hanging onto pole position but Stroll was out. Verstappen took first place at the very end. The five drivers leaving Sprint Qualifying were Stroll, Lawson, Hamilton, Gasly and Colapinto. It was another dire session for Alpine. Hamilton was as monosyllabic as former Ferrari driver, Kimi Raikkonen, in the press pit.
Antonelli only just scraped through into SQ3 as Hadjar had a lap time deleted. This session was even more boring than the last. The two McLarens were fastest with Norris ahead and then Verstappen. The five drivers out were predictable too: Hadjar, Bearman, Bortoleto, Hulkenberg and Ocon. Normal order seemed to have been restored.
Alonso was very angry with the number of drivers on track (precisely on the same spot) at the end of SQ2 and Verstappen was very angry with his car and how much it was porpoising at the start of SQ3. This time the track improved as the time ticked down and Verstappen's hold on pole tumbled away, perhaps his team should have listened to him? Even Tsunoda beat him and I had assumed he was already out or perhaps forgotten on the baggage carousel at the airport. The top ten were Piastri, Russell, Norris, Alonso, Tsunoda, Verstappen, Antonelli, Sainz, LeClerc and Albon. Piastri needed some kind of strong racing event. Albon seems to be falling into Sainz's shadow.
Piastri will go all out to get in the Sprint to get as many points as he can, the championship is all but lost to him unless he does. It should be a great Sprint.
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