By Joe Murphy
Carlos Sainz made it three different teams to be P1 over the three different practice sessions we have seen before qualifying commences later this afternoon. The Spaniard set a time of 1:30:834 to defeat his compatriot Alonso by just over a tenth of a second.
The Ferrari man edged out Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen, who were ahead of the McLaren pair, the Mercedes of George Russell and Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez. It is worth noting that the top ten were only separated by just over half a second with Magnussen in 14th less than nine tenths off the top spot.
Yesterday’s chart toppers Ricciardo and Hamilton couldn’t get into the top ten and it was more misery for Alpine who were officially slowest overall with Sauber and Williams above them. A special shout out to Nico Hulkenberg who got his Haas into P9.
But will he do this when it matters? We have only a matter of hours before we find out. And with so many questions remaining, it’s going to be a fascinating watch. Will bookies favourite and reigning World Champion Verstappen, who is yet to top an official session in 2024 take the Pole, or will a Mercedes, McLaren, Aston Martin, Ferrari or indeed his teammate, start first for tomorrow’s race?
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