Norris takes pole, Leclerc pips Piastri, gap to Verstappen: 1 second

The session was delayed by 5 minutes. As it started after the first round of push tours it was Lando Norris who found himself at the top of the timing sheets with Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen behind him albeit at 3 and 4 tenths respectively. Lewis Hamilton placed P4 with teammate Charles Leclerc in P8. George Russell slotted in behind the Monegasque and ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, with teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli placing P5 ahead of Pierre Gasly with Isack Hadjar in P7.

In the last minutes of the session Liam Lawson jumped to P3, as Yuki Tsunoda was again eliminated in Q1. Franco Colapinto knocked Russellinto the dropzone, albeit momentarily, as Carlos Sainz bagged his third Q1 exit in a row.

Q2 started the same way Q1 ended, with McLaren dominating the field. Both McLaren drivers pipped Verstappen by nearly 7 tenths, although both Ferrari drivers managed to close the gap to a little over four and a half tenths.

Gabriel Bortoleto then put in a lap good enough for P3, before Verstappen demoted him to P4. Russell could only finish in P6 as Leclerc took the best of the race place behind Piastri. Pierre Gasly then demoted the Mercedes British driver to P7 and pushed Antonelli down to P10, as teammate Colapinto failed to make it to Q3 placing P14 in the end.

After the first round of fast tours it was obvious that McLaren had the edge on their competitors with Norris again placing P1 ahead of Piastri, who would be caught out by the ever-quick Leclerc who took the Australian's place behind Norris. Hamilton took P4 as Russell placed P5 and Verstappen slotted in P6 nearly 7 tenths behind Norris. Antonelli, Bortoleto, Gasly and Lawson rounded off the top 10.