In what is set up to be the most gripping and intense race in Formula 1, Max Verstappen set a storming lap to secure his tenth pole position of the season – which caught many off guard. Verstappen’s scorching time of a 1:22.109s set him 0.371s clear of Lewis Hamilton who guarantee’s that the ‘winner takes all race’ will begin with the two title antagonists at the front.
Verstappen managed to pull his lap out of the nowhere, as Mercedes seemed to have the more suitable package heading into qualifying. Yet, the Red Bull man, and his team, managed to catch their rivals out by using a tow tactic with their main man and Sergio Perez. In fairness to Verstappen, the tow seemed to gain him less then a tenth but a blistering final sector set his path. One of his best laps, and making up for his error during his rememberable lap in Jeddah. However, Verstappen flat-spotted his medium set of tyres in Q2 which has left him starting the all important race on the soft tyres.
Hamilton managed to get through on the mediums, adding more intrigue into the race. The Mercedes driver admitted that he could not answer the pace of his rival in the final session, trailing the Dutchman by over three tenths of a second. Despite being slightly disappointed, on the inside, to be lining up in second, Hamilton will begin the race on the medium tyres with a one-stop strategy in mind.
The two title rivals on the front row of the grid in the finale of a thrilling season, with both drivers in differing strategies. Yes please.
Away from the leading two, Lando Norris certainly set one of his laps of the season after managing to pull out a lap that was good enough for third on the grid, despite being eight tenths away from the pole sitter. Along with grabbing this lap from out of the blue, Norris managed to edge his way ahead of both Ferrari rivals, along with a Red Bull and Mercedes – so well done that man. A well-needed lift for him.
Perez will be frustrated to miss out on the third place slot, in order to help his teammate, but the Mexican driver had to settle for fourth after being pipped by Norris by just 0.01s. Like Verstappen, Perez will begin on the soft tyres and could play a crucial role in the race against Hamilton by getting past Norris early on.
Carlos Sainz also set one of his best laps in the final session of the season. The Spaniard finished the trio of 1:22.9s lap times with fifth on the grid, missing out on Norris’ P3 by 0.06s. Charles Leclerc could not match the performances of his teammate, falling nearly two tenths clear of his teammate in seventh. A rare gap between the Ferrari drivers.
Valtteri Bottas finds himself in a Ferrari sandwich in a disappointing, leaving his teammate to fend off both Red Bulls which is not what Hamilton or Mercedes would have wanted. Bottas’ qualifying seemed to be compromised from the get go after the Finnish driver was forced to going back to an older spec power unit. Obviously, a delight for Red Bull.
Yuki Tsunoda enjoyed one of his best qualifying performances of the season by achieving a rare feat – beating Pierre Gasly. Tsunoda managed to get his name up to fourth on the timings, before having the said lap cancelled due to track limits at the final corner, which was slightly gutting for him. Still, he popped his name into the eight slot on the grid, after impressively getting his way into Q3 on the medium tyres. Hell of a feat there, however Gasly struggled more then his teammate and could only set a time good enough for 12th.
Like Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon was the sole driver from his teammate that made it through to the final qualifying session. Ocon managed to squeeze his name into ninth, beating Daniel Ricciardo by just 0.02s.
Although McLaren are having a better weekend then in recent rounds, especially with Norris, Ricciardo seemed to lack balance and pace, lapping nearly half a second away from his teammate.
The first driver to miss out on the top ten was an angry Fernando Alonso, who felt the shenanigans on the outlap cost him places, along with being blocked by a McLaren. This left Alonso down in 11th on the grid, although he expects some in front to be penalised.
Both Aston Martin cars saw their days come to an end in Q2, with Lance Stroll occupying 13th and Sebastian Vettel in 15th, split by nearly three tenths.
George Russell could not keep up his Saturday performances on his final qualifying session with Williams, and actually saw himself being beat by Nicholas Latifi by nearly a tenth, as both Williams cars line up in 16th and 17th.
On his final ever qualifying session, Kimi Raikkonen could only place his name in 18th, making his Sunday inevitably harder – exactly how he would like it to be on his final race in Formula 1….
Then, the usual last row with the Haas team. Mick Schumacher took the 19th grid slot, just two tenths away from Raikkonen’s time. Seven tenths behind and last is, of course, Nikita Mazepin.
The Motorsport Formula 