Q3 – Norris takes pole position despite Russell crashing at the last moment
All eyes then turned to the shootout between the top 10 – can Verstappen maintain his good form for pole? As Q3 began and everyone began their first laps, the reigning World Champion set off on fresh soft tyres.
These initial efforts paid off in Norris’ favor, with the McLaren driver setting the fastest time of 1 minute 32.330 seconds. And while Verstappen looked like he was setting a good time, the Red Bullman’s final sector wasn’t much better and he crossed the line 0.031 seconds off Norris’ provisional pole lap.
Sainz finished third ahead of Leclerc and Piastri. Elsewhere, Perez had trouble, with the Mexican having his time deleted for exceeding track limits, dropping him to 10th place.
Most of the competitors had returned to the pits before the final run, but Alonso chose to keep the track to himself and was in eighth place after one lap. Drama ensued in the pit lane when Alpine threw Gasly into the path of Verstappen, and race control noted the incident.
But there was an even more dramatic scene as most of the pack was setting the final lap. Norris was unable to improve on his previous result, while Verstappen had a solid run, but Russell lost the rear of his W15 at turn 19 and crashed, sending his car spinning into the barriers.
Luckily the British rider was unharmed, but the incident brought out a double yellow flag and meant no one on the lap could improve. This included Verstappen, with Norris safely taking pole position, but the Dutchman having to settle for second.
Sainz placed his Ferrari in third place, with teammate Leclerc in fourth and Piastri in fifth, while Russell maintained sixth place after an earlier struggle. Gasly, Alonso and Magnussen were seventh, eighth and ninth, with Perez dropping to 10th after having his only timed lap deleted.
