Max Verstappen was the obvious candidate to take pole position, but problems with the drive train threw a spanner in the works. Sergio Perez ran away with the fastest time and will see Fernando Alonso alongside him on Sunday. The Aston Martin driver finished third, but benefits from a grid penalty from Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc was one-and-a-half tenths short of Perez's time, but because of the use of his third control electronics, he will be put back 10 places. The second row of the grid, therefore, sees George Russell and Carlos Sainz, who actually finished fourth and fifth in qualifying.
Nyck de Vries did not get further than an eighteenth time and thus failed to reach Q2, just like in Bahrain. The second Dutchman in the F1 field will need luck if he wants to take points on Sunday, as AlphaTauri's AT04 does not seem to be fast enough.