Q2 – Verstappen moves into the lead as Alonso misses out
As Q2 began, Stroll got out quickly and got a banker’s lap on the board, but his 1m 13.630s effort was soon defeated by the swagger of the Q1 pace-setters – Verstappen took the lead from Norris in 1m 11.653s. Sines, Piastre, Leclerc and Russell.
Gasly kept the Alpine firmly in the top-10 in seventh, followed by Perez, Hulkenberg and team mate Ocon, with multiple world champions Alonso and Hamilton – the latter complaining “this tire was bad” – joining Bottas in 12th and 13th. , Zhou and stroll through the drop zone.
Strolling back with his second timed run, Q moved back into the 3 places at Ogan’s expense and was pumped again as the rest of the field completed their final efforts and took the checkered flag.
With Verstappen, Norris, Sainz and Leclerc all in the pits, Hamilton was back out of danger by going P2 behind his 2021 title rival, while Russell made it two Mercedes machines into the top three.
Perez, Gasly and Ocon delivered when they had to slot behind the McLaren and Ferrari drivers, with Alonso missing out by an agonizing margin of 0.019s in Q3 in front of his own fans – Bottas, Hulkenberg, team-mate Stroll and Chow. Other eliminators.
Knockout: Alonso, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Stroll, Chow
