Leclerc beat Piastre to pole as Norris suffered a Q1 exit

Q2 – Verstappen leads Leclerc ahead of pole shootout

When the remaining 15 drivers returned to the track for the start of Q2, Verstappen and Perez went up a gear to form a temporary Red Bull one-two – the Dutchman posted a 1m 42.042s – as Piastre moved up to third from Russell, Bearmann and Sainz. .

Albon, Hamilton, Leclerc and Hulkenberg held the final top 10 spots at this point, leaving Colapinto, Alonso, Gasly, Tsunoda and Stroll to work on the final, decisive run, which would bring another pile of purple and green sectors. times

Ferrari were slightly out of sync with their run plan at this point, allowing Leclerc to finish second on a clean track and Sainz fourth, while Perez was the only driver to sit in his garage and watch the rest of the action tick by as the minutes ticked by and the checkered flag came out.

There was no further improvement at the sharp end of the final lap, with Verstappen remaining in P1 over Leclerc and Perez, followed by Russell, Alonso and an inspired Colapinto, who brilliantly secured safe passage to the pole position shootout for his second weekend.

Sainz, Piastre, Hamilton and Albon's other Williams did the same, denying Biermann, who described himself on the radio as “an idiot” after an apparent mistake, Sunoda's RB, Gassly's Alpine, Hulkenberg's other Haas and Stroll's Aston Martin.

Dropped: Biermann, Tsunoda, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Stroll