George Russell put a Mercedes in the light do , in the early hours of this Saturday (23), while Max Verstappen came closer to the fourth consecutive title of Formula 1 by ranking ahead of Lando Norris
O which will keep the world champion crown two rounds in advance if he wins in the early hours of Saturday (23) to Sunday (24), guaranteed the fifth non-grid place, com o rival is McLaren in sixth.
“We are still ahead of McLaren, which is a surprise for me, but I am very happy with the performance in qualifying and my laps,” said Verstappen.
Norris needs to score three more points than the Dutch driver to remain in the fight for the title in Qatar, next weekend.
“I will do everything I can. I won’t give up until the end, even if the chance is extremely small,” said Norris, whose team is also at risk of losing ground to Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz joined Russel already first fila, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly surprisingly in third placee Charles Leclerc, from Ferrari, in fourth.
Russell, who took his third pole of the season and fourth of his career, was in the provisional lead after the first fast laps, but saved the best for last while others were faster on an evolving track.
O pole time of 1 minute and 32.312 seconds was 0.098 faster than Sainz, who had improved Leclerc’s previous mark.
“I knew going into that last lap of Q3 that that was the one that would count, no matter what happened before,” he said. Russellwho was the fastest in the final training session after brushing the wall on the first attempt.
“I had a bad time. We had to change my front wing. There was a moment when I thought we wouldn’t make it. Sometimes you have to put it on the table. I was confident in myself and knew that if I had a clean lap, I would be on the front row”, he assured.
qualified seventh for RB, with Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri eighth and Nico Hulkenberg ninth for RB.
O seven-time world champion qualified 10th after being the fastest in early morning training from Thursday (21) to Friday (22).
The Mercedes driver judged poorly the first attempt and it went out of the track before having the second canceled for exceeding the course limits.
“It’s really disappointing as we definitely had the pace for pole position,” said Hamilton.
Verstappen’s teammate, with a place at Red Bull increasingly in question, continued the sequence of bad results and will start in 16th.
Perez has not scored a point since last month, which has hit Red Bull hard, third in the Constructors’ standings.
“Unbelievable… I couldn’t find any grip,” the Mexican said over the radio after being told he was out.
Both Aston Martins failed to make it past Q1, with Lance Stroll managing just one flying lap after the mechanics They raced against the clock to change the car’s energy recovery system (ERS) package.
Argentine rookie Franco Colapinto increased Williams’ already high repair bill by crashing forte on the wall in qualifying for the second race in a row. The 21-year-old pilot will need to undergo medical examinations before being released to run.
The crash at the end of Q2, which left debris scattered across the track and delayed the session, was the sixth in three races for a team whose boss James Vowles estimated the cost at more than $3 million.
This Sunday (23).
