Due to torrential rain and lightning storms at the circuit, the original time slot for Qualifying was a wash out. It was delayed until early morning, 7.30am in local time. It would be a very long day for the teams with the Race to follow at 3.30pm (adjusted to fit around the weather but giving the teams less time to set up).
When the first session started, the drivers were queued up as rain was predicted 15 minutes later. It was tricky going from the off, with spray and Yellow Flags quickly out for Lawson. The flags continued to flash green and yellow. Stroll could not keep it on the track at all. With 8 minutes to go, Colapinto crashed his Williams into the hoarding, ending covered in Rolex signage. The session was stopped with a Red Flag. If they didn't restart the session, his team mate, Albon, both Saubers and both Mercedes would be out. The mechanics were very disappointed, particularly because they would only have a short time to reset before the race. It restarted fairly quickly but the rain was falling harder. Some drivers were improving but Russell was struggling to stay on track, going off and cutting back on in front of Albon. As they were on wet tyres they were able to stay out and put in lap after lap. Hulkenberg also went off and over the grass. Then lap times started to be deleted. This included Norris, who was caught amongst traffic whilst being in 17th place. The last corner and straight was do or die; he pushed Hamilton out, just staying safe. Vestappen was quickest followed by Albon and Russell. It was lap by lap, minute by minute, to succeed on the track. Hamilton was 16th, then Bearman, Colapinto, Hulkenberg (out-qualified by his rookie team mate who had never driven in the wet in an F1 car before) and lastly, Zhou.
In the second session, less to no rain was forecast. The track got quicker and quicker and Intermediate tyres were put on. It was being discussed how late drivers could come out to try and get the latest and fastest time. However, with 6 minutes to go, Sainz took a slow spin off the track and his rear-end thudded into the wall. It would be a bigger job for his mechanics than Colapinto. The Red Flag came out and this session was stopped. Every driver was lined up to leave the pit lane when the session restarted. By this time there were two minutes left, Alonso was quickest. The stewards let a number of drivers complete laps under double-waved Yellow Flags, as Stroll was stuck at a corner, having spun off. Two drivers who did not get to finish a fast lap were Verstappen and Perez. With less than a minute to go, the session would not be restarted. Out went Bottas, Verstappen (who will also receive a five place grid penalty for an engine change), Perez, Sainz and Gasly. It was felt that the Red Bulls went past the crash as it happened so must have known that they could not complete that lap as they should have dropped pace at the start of their final lap and would not have been able to go quicker than any previous times set.
Back in the pit lane, Sainz went around and apologised to everyone in the garage. Stroll took a drink and went for a chat and smile with one of his engineers.
Even with a delayed time for the third session, drivers started queuing up very early. This was because it was starting to rain. After another few minutes, the session was Red Flagged for Alonso going nose-first into the wall. It would be a busy and expensive afternoon for Aston Martin. At that moment Norris, Albon and Piastri were the top three. The worst smash then came for Albon, who was okay but the car was not going to be able to be fixed before the race. This was the first off that caused the Medical Car to come out, so it was a much greater impact. He had said he was okay on the radio but didn't look it when the medic got him out of the chassis. There was a lot of debris to clear.
Norris was given a message that seemed very good advice; there was no need to go fast when not starting the race if your car couldn't be fixed in time was also a possibility. After five Red Flags, this was pertinent. Norris hammered home the point that he was the quickest driver out there by continuing to put in pole lap after pole lap. Second was Russell, putting in one very quick lap. Following him was Tsunoda, Ocon, Lawson, LeClerc, Albon, Piastri, Alonso and Stroll. Despite both cars crashing, it was a good result for Aston Martin and Williams. The RBs outshone their sister team, Red Bull. Unfortunately, Tsunoda was being investigated by the stewards for not following the race director's instructions. The commentators felt that was due to him not knowing where he should have been parking his car and were hoping he would be exonerated.
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