Qualifying was McLarens to lose (excluding the Qually Lap King, LeClerc). In the first session, a lot of drivers had slides, Sainz failing to go around some bollards after his and having to go and get his knuckles rapped after the event. There were lots of shots of drivers kissing the concrete wall with their tyres. Everyone had to put on fresh tyres and go out for a second run, which was unusual. Russell made a panicky call to the pits about the tyres feeling completely different to Free Practice. Ocon knocked Ricciardo out of Qualifying (7 places behind his team mate) and possibly out of F1. Behind him Stroll, Gasly and both Saubers. Norris was first ahead of Verstappen.
Again in the second session, the drivers were sliding about all over the place. Out went both Williams, then Perez (back to being awful again after shining at the street track in Baku last week), Magnussen and Ocon (who had over-driven the car to be in the session in the first place).
Finally a Red Flag came in the third session, the first in a long long time. Sainz spun his car and ended backwards in the barrier. The drivers waited for a long time to come out after the track was reopened. They had to move quickly get over the start line before the chequered flag flew. It looked fast and furious. LeClerc's lap time was deleted for going off track limits, so it didn't pay off for Ferrari. Norris took pole position ahead of championship rival Verstappen, followed by Hamilton and Russell, Piastri, Hulkenberg (who set a quick lap before the Red Flag), Alonso, Tsunoda and then the Ferraris.
The drivers looked shattered when they got out of the cars and this was only Qualifying; the race would be a challenge, especially for Colapinto in his third F1 start. With grid position being so important in Singapore, no one was changing any parts and suffering the penalty. There would be no Latifi or Sargeant on the track, so the predictability of a Safety Car or Red Flag was lessened.
No comments:
Post a Comment