By Camille Lebez Leroy
Red Flags, Rain, and Drama: Verstappen Grabs Pole in Chaotic Qualifying
Q1
Q1 started with immediate action as most of the drivers headed out, while Piastri stayed briefly in the garage because of some work done on his front wing before joining on mediums. Leclerc went quickest early on, but Albon’s strong weekend came to a sudden end when he clipped the wall and broke his suspension, bringing out the first red flag and forcing both Piastri and Antonelli to abort their flying laps.
Once the green flag waved, Hamilton briefly topped the times before Hulkenberg slid into the barriers at Turn 4, damaging his front wing and triggering a second red flag. Antonelli’s only lap was deleted, leaving him with no time and quite a lot of pressure heading into the final minutes.
In the last run, the track got quickly crowded with drivers pushing hard as time ticked away. Norris set the pace on softs to go fastest, with Verstappen close behind on mediums, while Piastri recovered strongly to secure a safe passage into Q2.
Antonelli also pulled through with a much-needed lap, while Hulkenberg miraculously rejoined the session after his crash. However, Colapinto brought out late red flags with a heavy crash just after the chequered flag.
Q2
Q2 began slightly delayed, with Sainz leading the field out on mediums alongside Alonso and Bearman, while most of the others opted for soft tyres. Almost immediately though, the session was halted when Bearman clipped the wall exiting Turn 2, breaking his suspension and bringing out the red flags before anyone could set a time.
On the restart, Ferrari split strategies with Leclerc on mediums and Hamilton on softs, but it quickly unraveled, Leclerc ran wide and Hamilton was forced to abort his lap behind the Ferrari. This opened the door for everyone else, and Norris went fastest on his used softs from Q1, just ahead of Russell and Antonelli, both showing strong pace in the cooler conditions.
Few minutes before the end of the session, Verstappen finally joined the action and slotted into second on mediums tires, while Leclerc recovered with a clean lap to move into fourth. The pressure was on Hamilton though, who was stuck in the drop zone after his aborted run and couldn’t improve in time.
In the final moments, Piastri climbed to second, only 0.018s off Norris, underlining McLaren’s strong pace. Tsunoda just squeezed into P10 with a late effort, leaving Hamilton eliminated, a big shock given him and Ferrari had both looked strong earlier in the weekend.
Q3
Q3 got off to a dramatic start as most drivers headed out on medium tyres, but some incidents rapidly disrupted the session. Russell went off early, and Leclerc crashed at Turn 15 just as rain began to fall, bringing out the first red flag in the third part of qualifying.
Only Sainz, Lawson, and Hadjar managed to set laps before Piastri crashed heavily at Turn 3, triggering the sixth red flag of qualifying and leaving the session in chaos.
When the final restart came, the track was damp and conditions were tricky, forcing drivers to balance risk and reward. Norris struggled to seventh after a scrappy lap, while Russell could not improve enough to challenge Sainz, who held second.
Verstappen seized the moment, delivering a brilliant lap to take pole with a 1m 41.117s, half a second ahead of Sainz, while Lawson produced an outstanding third.
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