Q2 – Norris goes quickest, Hamilton and Antonelli out
In the break between Q1 and Q2, which featured an extra couple of minutes to allow marshals to clear loose gravel at Turn 12, the clouds appeared to grow darker and, by the time the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane, spots of rain had arrived.
“Expect the best conditions at the end of session,” Verstappen was told by his engineer as the remaining 15 drivers pushed to get some initial Q2 times on the board with soft tyres – Norris going quickest on a 1m 14.890s from Piastri, Alonso, Stroll, Hadjar and Bearman.
Russell, the aforementioned Verstappen, Lawson and Leclerc held the final top-10 spots after those runs, leaving Hamilton, Sainz, Bortoleto, Antonelli and Colapinto – who had a lap time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 9 – with work to do.
Across those second runs, which again saw Alonso and Stroll go early and involved a massive queue between their rivals to get out of the pits, there were some big disappointments on the cards as both Hamilton and Antonelli missed the Q3 cut.
“Every time, every time,” lamented 12th-placed Hamilton over the radio, with Antonelli similarly dejected after winding up 11th but then falling to 15th due to a track limits violation. Bearman, Sainz and Colapinto were the other three drivers to drop out.
Norris remained fastest from Piastri despite neither of the McLaren drivers improving, from Stroll, Russell, Alonso and Leclerc, while Verstappen squeezed through to Q3 in eighth around the Racing Bulls of Hadjar and Lawson and Bortoleto.
Knocked out: Bearman, Sainz, Hamilton, Colapinto, Antonelli
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