Red Bull’s Max Verstappen beat Sergio Perez and Lando Norris to lead the second Formula 1 qualifying shootout, as Austrian Ferrari’s prototype disappeared and Mercedes suffered first- and second-quarter disasters.
The day started in rainy conditions at the Red Bull Circuit, and it was announced that wet sprint qualifying meant the strict slick compound requirements for the compressed session were suspended and drivers could use whatever tires they wanted throughout.
In the end, other than the Williams who completed early Q1 laps on intermediates, the drivers ran slicks throughout.
Verstappen made full use of the new softs he salvaged smoothly progressing into Friday’s qualifying to lead the way in the first runs in Q3 with 1m04.613s ahead of Norris and Perez, with Carlos Sainz fourth and at that point running new media due to his lack of new softs.
Several drivers switched vehicles in the final Q3 laps, with Charles Leclerc leading the charge after not heading straight away in Q3 to salvage his only set of fresh softs.
But these weren’t enough to make an impression on the leaders, as he couldn’t repeat what he had done on Friday night near his pole, and at that point he couldn’t even beat his teammate’s time on the harder rubber.
Verstappen then sprinted again with the fastest time in all three sectors to claim pole position in the sprint, going 0.173 seconds faster to go 1m04.440s.
Pérez scored on second while Norris dropped to third and Nico Hulkenberg masterfully shot to fourth despite a quarterback run at the end.
Sainz switched to fresh softs for his second drive in the third quarter, and although he improved, he could only finish fifth, as Leclerc completed a second softs run on the same softs combo that was a personal best but was fast enough for sixth.
Then came Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, who also found time switching to mids in the final innings of the third quarter.
Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen completed the top ten.
In Q2, which Verstappen led, Leclerc faced a late battle for the lead while only running slugs as he ran 11th before the final times, but did enough to get ahead – unlike Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries.
Like Leclerc, Gasly and Tsunoda produced their personal bests at the death knell, but were unable to climb into the top ten.
Tsunoda lost a faster time when violating track limits, but he wasn’t fast enough to get into Q3 ahead of Hulkenberg anyway.
George Russell was also eliminated in his stage as he suffered a hydraulic failure at the end of Q1, and although a Mercedes mechanic was spotted working on his car during the middle segment, he didn’t take to the track.
In Q1 both Ferrari drivers had contrasting fortunes with Sainz spending most of the short 12-minute section in the pits as his team had to solve a brake-by-wire problem at the rear of his car that left him with only the mechanics working the system and so the brakes overheated. background and started to smoke.
Sainz emerged with 1m40s remaining on the clock and then brilliantly sprinted up the mound in the opening over.
Leclerc was able to spin and made a late change trip to the pits, after which he struggled for the tires to overheat compared to the ones that stayed out.
He improved on his final effort enough to jump clear of the falling area, but as the final flurry of improvements came in, the order was shifted back to back and he only led by 0.001 seconds – a fraction faster than Alfa Romeo’s Zhu Guanyu.
Chu had sprinted early in Q1 to cut through the wet inside barriers at Turn 9 and was eventually relegated to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who would go on to see the race hosts now qualify for the finale as he appeared to be fouled by Leclerc at Turn 9. Ferrari made a late dive into the pits.
Hamilton was the main casualty of the first quarter as he ran too far at the exit of turn ten and lost a time that could have been among the leading times in the opening segment.
He then found himself in a traffic jam and in a bizarre clash with Verstappen running into the pit straight and the Briton couldn’t get one last effort, leaving him stuck in 18th.
Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargent were also ruled out in the first quarter.
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