Q2 – Verstappen moves to P1 as Norris survives scare
There was a slightly longer break than usual between segments as marshals cleared away gravel from various sections of the track, only for Albon to run too deep at the Ascari chicane on his first Q2 effort and flick more stones onto the tarmac – heavily compromising that lap.
Drama followed for Norris when he locked up heavily into the first chicane, took to the run-off area and abandoned his lap. “We need to box,” his race engineer commented over the radio, while Verstappen moved into P1 on a 1m 19.140s from Russell and Piastri.
Bortoleto held an impressive fourth following his Q2 opener, from Leclerc, Tsunoda, Antonelli and Hamilton, with Sainz and Bearman occupying the final top 10 positions. That meant Alonso, Ocon, Albon (via his own lock-up into Turn 1), Hulkenberg and Norris were the drivers in danger.
Norris unsurprisingly rejoined the action as quickly as he could to get a banker on the board, but a 1m 19.451s only put him seventh. While the Briton could cool his tyres and go again, would he be able to deliver any more time on that used set compared to his rivals’ new ones?
After falling into the drop zone and raising heart rates on the McLaren pit wall, the out-of-sync Norris produced a lap when it mattered to shoot up to fifth, behind Russell, team mate Piastri, a much-improved Antonelli and Verstappen, whose low 1m 19s time remained the benchmark.
With just under three-tenths this time covering that P1 lap to the Q3 cut-off, Leclerc, Bortoleto, Alonso, Hamilton and Tsunoda were the final drivers to make it through to the pole position shootout, denying both Haas cars, Hulkenberg and both Williams drivers.
Knocked out: Bearman, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Albon and Ocon
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