Lando Norris has taken a surprising pole position ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Williams’ George Russell in a crazy session that saw Lewis Hamilton hit the pit wall.
In a crazy day that saw the lower Formulas be cancelled due to a thunderous downpour during the day, it was unsure that qualifying would even take place. It had stopped raining 30 minutes before qualifying and had dried out enough for intermediate tyres.
Q1 was just a feeling out process, with drivers finding out how wet it was on the track. Max Verstappen, due to taking an engine change, did not set a timed lapped and will start last. However, it was the usual suspects that were knocked out in Q1, with Nikita Mazepin, Antonio Giovinazzi, Mick Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen not making Q2.
In Q2, the track was still not dry enough to move off the intermediate tyres. Nicholas Latifi was looking particularly strong in the session but just couldn’t make it into the top ten. The Williams team had decided, through the session, to put a new engine into the Canadian’s car, meaning he will start at the back of the grid.
We also lost Sebastian Vettel, the two Alpha Tauris of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda and Charles Leclerc. Leclerc is also taking a new engine, which means he will start at the back with Verstappen and Latifi.
Q3 was when it all started to get crazy. The first round of laps was normal, with Hamilton and Valterri Bottas setting the fastest laps on intermediate tyres. However, with seven minutes to go, the Williams of Russell told his team to prepare the dry tyres and everyone else followed him in.
Coming into the pits, Hamilton lost it on the turn and hit the wall, breaking his front wing. He managed to get back out, but he couldn’t properly warm his tyres up, which meant he couldn’t improve on his previous time.
His previous time was first beaten by Sainz in the Ferrari, setting up a surprise pole position opportunity for the Italian team. But Norris, off the back of a second-place finish last race, set a blistering time that was five tenths quicker than anyone.
Russell was the last one to cross the line, and with no one else improving, Russell set a time that was a second quicker than Hamiltons. Which has set up a surprise Norris, Sainz, Russell top three for tomorrows Grand Prix.
By Charlie Parker
