Heroics Into Saint Devote

First up, Qualifying 1 saw Bortoleto, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Doohan and Stroll fall short and be eliminated at the first time of asking. Tsunoda however, was showing signs of real improvement at the helm of his RB21, maintaining a gap of less than 3 tenths to Max Verstappen ahead. Albon clobbered the wall on the entry to T16, with his eyes dead-set on the apex, it’s the kind of mistake we’d expect. It happens. We also saw Bortoleto have a spin of his own making at Turn 1 on his final push lap of the session, with the Brazilian coming into T1 a little hotter than he ideally wanted. And the rear tyres just couldn’t live with it, sending him sideways across the apex of T2. We also saw Pierre Gasly leaving the garage with a tyre blanket caught on his front right. Bizarre. Q1 ended with Verstappen 1st, from Norris, Piastri, Antonelli, and teammate Tsunoda.

Q2 now. And it saw Bearman, Hadjar, Alonso, Lawson and Albon fail to progress to the top-10 shootout. Albon opened up the timing this session, when he set a 1:28:591 in his Williams. But it was drama in the pitlane as a Mercedes was blocked by a Toro Rosso. Norris caught a nice slipstream from teammate Oscar Piastri to open up his first flying lap. Max also clobbered his plank on a curb at Turn 4. In other news, Liam Lawson was the first time deletion of the session. By the end, it was business as usual for Verstappen, who led Q1 and Q2. The gap from the front of the field to 15th was around 1.2 seconds.

Finally. Q3. Oscar got real lucky there and sets the only lap time before teammate Lando Norris found the wall through Turn 5. The Brit smashed the throttle on the exit of turn 4, and the rear tyres didn’t like that. He turned left, right, left then right again before finally throwing his car against the wall, battered the left side of his car. Both front and rear suspension elements were entirely destroyed, but the rest of the car seemingly held up well. The remainder of the session was rather uneventful. When the sesison resumed, Verstappen went to the top of timings by 0.001 of a second, pipping Piastri to 2nd, with 4 and a half minutes remaining. But on his in-lap, he claims there was low grip through T1, where race engineer Gianpierro Lambiase agreed, saying the tyres were not ready. Russell then went 0.145 seconds faster than Verstappen through the first sector on his first push lap. This was mirrored in the second sector, ending up 0.282 seconds up on Verstappen, even with a yellow S2. Ultimately, the British Driver found himself on provisional pole with around a minute to go by 0.152 seconds to Verstappen, who was now on an outlap. Piastri up next in the sole Mclaren. Flying through sector one, he goes 0.054 faster than Russell. What a session we’re seeing. Verstappen also starting his final flying lap behind. A yellow middle for Piastri, and loosing around a tenth to Russell, finding himself 0.054 DOWN on the Brit. Verstappen coming out of the first sector, going 0.177 faster and going purple. He’s really pushing that Red Bull Racing car. By the end of the lap, Piastri pips Russell by a tenth, and goes purple in the final sector. What a lap, Oscar Piastri. But what for Max Verstappen? The Dutchman goes yellow through sector 2, and remains half a tenth up on Piastri ahead. Surely images of 2021 are in the back of his made as he nails his run through turn 27. AND HE GOES TO POLE! 0.010 SECONDS IS THE GAP FROM POLE TO SECOND.

WHAT. A. SESSION. What first looked like a surprise pole for George Russell, then became an incredible lap from Piastri to snatch it from him. Which ultimately became another, his 42nd to be exact, pole position for Max Verstappen, who in retribution for 2021, delivered when he needed to, to go 0.010 faster than what was managed by Oscar Piastri. Let’s take a look at that lap shall we?

Here we are then, riding on-board with Verstappen on his storming lap. We start on the exit of T27, where he took a differing line to maximise the exit speed to set up his lap well. He flies down the pit-straight and charges into the braking zone after picking up a delicious slipstream from teammate Tsunoda. He lifts on the 100 metre board, and brakes shortly after, down to third for the T1-2 complex, where he completely avoids the inside curb of T1, and kisses the inside curb of T2, straightlining his exit the best he can, coming close to the wall. From here he gets up to 6th, where he keeps it for T4, absolutely throws the car in with a downshift, mere centimetres from the wall on the inside, and immediately gets back on the throttle. He gets back up to 6th through T5, which he holds all the way to T11. The car looks to be really obedient to his touch. As Max throws it into corners, the car lives with it. The Dutch driver feathers the brake for T9, then plants the throttle again all the way to T13. He mounts the curb on the exit of T11 to use all the track he can, roaring past the Mercedes of Russell on the run into T13. In T13, he brakes at the 50 metre board and throws his car in. It’s here where we see the first complaints from the tyres as he gets a wash of understeer at the mid-point of the corner. Presumably the surface temperature getting high after the snakes of S1. He collects this well and uses it to his advantage, taking a wider exit line, allowing him to get on the power sooner. He climbs back through the gears on his way through T14 and T15, before holding it on the limiter in 7th. He shifts down to fifth and launches the car into T16, getting close and personal with the walls, not only on the apex, but on entry and exit too. On the exit, the Dutchman climbs back up the gears, picking up a miniscule tow for a couple seconds on the Mercedes of Antonelli before diving to the right to pass. He keeps the speed up all the way to T22, where he understeers a little wide of the apex, causing him to run a little deeper than he may have liked, using the curb on exit and entry to T23, but gets his foot back down as soon as he can. It’s then almost a straight line up to T27. He comes down to 3rd for T27, cutting back on a similar line to the start of his lap, to maximise his exit, and slingshot the car out of the corner. At the line, Verstappen went to the top of timing sheets. He set an absolute best in the first sector, but both his S2 and S3 were neither absolute bests or personal bests, setting yellows in both of them.

So! The starting grid for tomorrow’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

This could be a really fun one. Tune in tomorrow for a race recap!