With Sainz being linked to a drive for several different teams next season, you would think all eyes would be on him but they were actually on the home track racer, LeClerc. Rivalling him for coverage was McLaren who were unidentifiable in their Senna tribute colours on car, uniforms and everything else possible.
Everyone struggled in the first Qualifying session because different teams chose to go out in an entirely random order, which meant that traffic was awful, with huge queues forming. There were big scalps: Alonso ahead of Sargeant, then Perez behind him and ahead of both Saubers. Perez commented that this was a "joke", not sure who he thought was laughing. If people were questioning his position at Red Bull before the race, he will be facing it far louder now.
With Perez and Alonso out, there were a couple of free passes into the final Qualifying session from the second. Gasly knocked out team mate Ocon. Hulkenberg qualified in 12th, once again ahead of his team mate Magnussen in 15th. Between them was a struggling Ricciardo and Stroll.
Verstappen struggled throughout Qualifying and hit the wall in the last few laps and had to take his foot off the pedal. Piastri brought the fight to LeClerc but he held it and took pole. We can only assume that Ferrari had turned everything up to deliver the car for him. Sainz was third, so the car is looking good, will it be able to hold everyone off during the race? After them is Norris, Russell, Verstappen, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Albon and Gasly. It's a great position for the Williams and Alpine cars.
After the session, both Haas cars were disqualified because their rear wings were not the correct size.
There are a few issues to look out for during the race: Ferrari cocking things up as usual, can Perez or Alonso make up some places, how bad will the graining be, will there be rain?
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