Q2 – Verstappen flyer as Alonso exits
Ocon and Gasly’s Alpine team were the first out on track as the clock ticked down to 15 minutes of Q2, with the team enjoying an increasing number of Q3 starts of late.
“I picked up a lot of bounce,” Sainz said after setting a lap in the Ferrari, a comment that may raise some concerns for the Scuderia team. Meanwhile, the excitement returned among the rest of the field as Verstappen returned to the top with an impressive time of 1m04.577s, half a second ahead of Russell and Piastri.
While Sainz finished second, his compatriot Alonso appeared to struggle to get out of the elimination zone, after reporting that he “nearly crashed” his Aston Martin at Turns 7 and 10 during his fast lap.
Hulkenberg had some problems, with the Haas driver set to be investigated after the race after he got ahead of Perez in the crowded pitlane queue. It wasn’t ideal for the German, who was given a time penalty in the sprint race earlier in the day after a collision with Alonso.
Despite his earlier announcement, Verstappen returned to the track on fresh rubber and improved his time with a lap of 1m04.469s. Hulkenberg moved up to ninth, but right-back duo Ricciardo and Tsunoda found themselves in 11th and 14th, while Magnussen, Gasly and Alonso also failed to qualify.
Out: Ricciardo, Magnussen, Gasly, Tsunoda, Alonso
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