00:01Now that is Yuki Tsunoda and that is a particularly hefty whack for the young
00:09Japanese driver and that has brought out the red flag, unsurprisingly, at
00:14Valiante Alta. Are you okay? Are you okay? I'm good. Let's have a look then. It was...
00:22it got a bit of a swapper on in the middle as he corrected it a bit and around
00:27it when. Gearbox at the very least. Yeah. And when he gets to the line it's fifth
00:33fastest for Esteban Ocon. Good improvement for him. He'll be safely through to the
00:38second part of qualifying. Latifi gets himself out of the bottom five. About
00:42half a second clear of that danger zone. Alonso is next and he's on the cusp
00:46though after a Q3 appearance in Bahrain. He's on the cusp of being knocked out
00:50here. Sebastian Vettel could be one of those who relegate Fernando Alonso closer
00:56to the drop zone. We're here on the Aston Martin and as we cross the line
00:59Vettel goes ninth fastest. George Russell is out on the track and improving. No he
01:05stays in that bottom five. Kimi Raikkonen. So here he is George Russell. Kimi Raikkonen
01:11very much at risk. Russell's got a personal best in the first sector and does
01:17push Kimi Raikkonen down into the bottom five. About the first time Russell's been
01:22out qualified by a teammate at Williams. Well so far anyway but they're both through
01:29then to Q2. Good effort from Nicolas Latifi. Very good effort.
01:35Gasly stops himself being at risk by putting his car, his Alfa Tauri into P6. Carlos Sainz
01:41very much on the cusp but Carlos Sainz is on the flying lap. We can pick up Esteban Ocon
01:46who at the moment has the slowest time. Now is the eighth fastest time. So Sainz gets pushed into the
01:51drop zone.
01:52Fernando Alonso is beaten in qualifying by a teammate for the first time since Malaysia 2017.
01:58As Leclerc goes third fastest for Ferrari and now Daniel Ricciardo goes eighth fastest.
02:04And Russell on a tidy lap as well. Very tidy lap is George Russell.
02:07Very good first sector from George Russell. Carlos Sainz is out though in the Ferrari. Can't make it into the
02:14top ten.
02:15Russell is only a tenth off that top ten but sadly for him 12 will not see any further participation
02:22in qualifying this afternoon.
02:24He keeps up his Saturday record at Williams of beating his teammate at every single Grand Prix so far.
02:30And Carlos Sainz for Ferrari out whilst his teammate third fastest. Big surprise.
02:37And Lando then crosses the line with a 1.14.8. Not quite as quick as time today.
02:43Yeah but that's a decent time from Lando Norris looking at the other sector times around him.
02:48All saying that Hamilton just got a tenth quicker through the first sector.
02:52But Norris was a tenth up on Sergio Perez on his flying lap at the moment and he was a
02:57tenth up on Verstappen through the first sector as well.
03:00Perez has now set the best middle sector as we ride on board with Pierre Gasly.
03:04Lance Stroll has had his time deleted for exceeding track limits at the Chicane at the Valianta Alta Chicane.
03:10Gasly with a 1.15.3 in the Alfa Tauri for the man who started fourth on the grid here
03:15last year.
03:16Perez now to cross the line and he goes quickest by a couple of tenths from Lando Norris in the
03:22McLaren.
03:22Lewis Hamilton fastest overall first sector. A personal best middle sector. Hamilton to cross the line in a moment after
03:30Valtteri Bottas who only goes third fastest.
03:32And Hamilton goes quickest overall a 1.14.4. A couple of tenths up on Sergio Perez.
03:38Here's Max Verstappen next though. Best overall in the middle sector. Verstappen a tenth behind Hamilton.
03:45Leclerc pops the Ferrari into fifth place.
03:52Minimum speed through there is 110 miles an hour, 175 kilometers per hour.
03:58And Bottas then with a 24-0 again, which actually only matches his 24-0 last time around.
04:05Valtteri Bottas under pressure in the Mercedes.
04:09There's turn nine. He stayed within the bounds of the racetrack.
04:12Cascading downhill into Acquaminerale. Now it's uphill as the car complains over the kerb.
04:19Bring it left. Ready for Variante Alta.
04:23Smash the kerb on the inside. Keep forward motion.
04:26And yeah, he's all right on that one, isn't he, on the kerb.
04:30So Hamilton is only 8.100ths of his best time so far.
04:34Norris has just blitzed the first sector once again with a 23.5.
04:38That's half a second quicker than Valtteri Bottas managed through that first sector.
04:42Bottas not improving at the moment, you'd think, to challenge pole position.
04:46Hamilton is within touching distance.
04:49Max Verstappen, we're still waiting to see, go through the first sector as
04:52Hamilton crosses the line and blitzes the final sector.
04:57It's a 1.14, 4.11 from before, though, that keeps him on pole.
05:00Watch Norris, though. Norris, purple first sector, purple middle sector.
05:04Is he going to stick this on the front row? Is he going to stick it on pole?
05:08Car number four, best qualifying ever, fourth twice in his career before.
05:13Lando Norris is having a brilliant lap and goes on to the front row.
05:18By only 4.100ths of a second behind Hamilton, it's Norris on the front row for McLaren.
05:24The bad news is, though, he might have exceeded track limits.
05:28Yes, he has. He has. And both Red Bulls are out there doing good lap times, too.
05:33So, all Lando Norris' good work is going to be undone by a track limit violation.
05:38He's going to get that time deleted. What can Sergio Perez do?
05:42Leclerc now goes fourth fastest. Perez has never started on the front row before.
05:46He's on the front row now, though. That's a much better qualifying for the Mexican in the Red Bull.
05:51As Verstappen crosses the line and Perez out-qualifies Verstappen.
05:55Hamilton is on pole. Perez, for the first time in his career, starts on the front row.
06:01Verstappen settles for P3. Leclerc and Ferrari do make it onto the second row.
06:06And at the 30th different track in his career, Lewis Hamilton will start a Grand Prix in the top spot.
06:13So, this is Max Verstappen.
06:16Oh, right. Yeah. I mean, there's enough grip because the grass is dry out there, but it's sub-optimal, I
06:23believe they say.
06:24Yeah, so he had a bit of an oversteer in the middle. Again, had to counter-steer, walk the car
06:28wide.
06:28And this is Piratella and this is Lando Norris. Oh, difficult to see from the car angle, isn't it?
06:37And for the first time in a while, Red Bull have two cars to chase a Mercedes,
06:43as opposed to Mercedes have two cars to chase a Red Bull.
06:46Good point.
06:46Oh, change around after that qualifying session.
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