Q1

After a hot and sunny first practice session earlier in the day, the sun went down and cooler conditions arrived just in time for qualifying, giving the drivers at least a bit better grip in their tyres.

Aston Martin drivers and Nico Hulkenberg were the first ones out on track. Lance Stroll then set the first time, but a few moments later it was deleted for track limits.

Red Bull had a difficult start. Max Verstappen was trying to set a time, but he made a mistake in the last corner and had to abandon his lap. Yuki Tsunoda set a good time, but his time was also deleted because of track limits. After their first runs, Verstappen was in 19th place and Tsunoda was in 20th, so things were not looking good.

Verstappen was not happy with the car and said over the radio that "something was really wrong". Red Bull only had enough time and tyres for one more lap, so it was a big risk. In the end, Verstappen managed to do a great lap and moved up to third place. Tsunoda just made it through to the next part of qualifying in 14th place.

The five drivers, who got knocked out after Q1 were Alex Albon, Liam Lawson, who had a problem with DRS, Gabriel Bortoleto, Lance Stroll and Oliver Bearman. It was also announced that four drivers (Stroll, Bortoleto, Oscar Piastri and Isack Hadjar) will be investigated by the stewards for for failing to follow the maximum delta time.

Q2

At the start of Q2, Yuki Tsunoda wasn't wasting any time and was the first to go for a flying lap, knowing he needed to improve on his Q1 performance.

But just as the session got going, disaster struck for Haas as Esteban Ocon crashed at Turn 2 after running over the kerb, damaging the rear of his car and bringing out the red flag. Thankfully, he was unharmed, but the car was in bad shape, making it a rough day for the team after Bearman’s earlier exit.

Once the session restarted, drivers slowly returned to the track. Red Bull was once again in trouble, with both Verstappen and Tsunoda sitting in the danger zone. Verstappen even had to abort one of his flying laps, adding to the pressure. Meanwhile, the McLarens looked strong, with Piastri ahead of Norris.

As the final laps came in, Tsunoda delivered under pressure. He jumped up to sixth place with a strong time and then just managed to hold onto tenth, scraping into Q3 by only 0.017 seconds. On the other end, his former teammate Pierre Gasly managed to squeeze his Alpine brilliantly into third place.

The five drivers, who got knocked out after Q2 were Jack Doohan, Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg. 

Q3

Q3 brought more frustration for Max Verstappen, whose troubles didn’t stop after the earlier sessions. Over the radio, he complained about his brakes, saying, “My brakes are just terrible. I can’t brake at all. So bad.” With the car not behaving the way he wanted, Verstappen struggled to fight for pole.

Up front, it was Oscar Piastri who took provisional pole with a strong lap of 1:30.233, just over a tenth faster than George Russell, who looked set to join him on the front row. But there was still time for one final push from everyone.

Before the final laps, some surprising news came through as Hulkenberg's lap time from Q1 was officially deleted, which meant that Alex Albon, who had originally been knocked out, should have gone through to Q2 instead. A strange and rare situation that came too late to fix.

Back on track, the pole position fight heated up. Mercedes found more pace and so did Charles Leclerc, but Piastri wasn’t done yet. The young Australian delivered when it mattered most, retaking pole with an impressive 1:29.841. Norris couldn’t match his teammate’s pace and had to settle for sixth.

In the end, it was Piastri on pole for McLaren, followed by Russell in second and Leclerc in third. Antonelli impressed with fourth place, just ahead of Pierre Gasly, who amazingly squeezed into fifth place. Verstappen could only manage seventh, while Tsunoda finished in tenth, over a second off the pace.

A lot of drivers will be investigated after the session, so the final grid for tomorrow might change.