00:01Round goes, the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas not facing in the right direction.
00:06He's got many podiums here in his history, but he has found a moment at the exit of Turn 1.
00:151.2 from fastest to slowest, Nick de Vries suddenly bringing up the rear.
00:20That's actually tighter than the Formula 3 and the Formula 2 grid, and they all have identical cars.
00:24So, modern Formula 1 is on the short tracks delivering a relatively close performance,
00:31but of course, you know, the guy that wins the 100m final is probably only half a tenth quicker than
00:35the guy that finishes fifth,
00:36and no one remembers who finished second.
00:38Logan Sargent does an identical lap time to Valtteri Bottas, and they're both in the drop zone, thanks to Esteban
00:45Ocon.
00:46Russell is 15th. Is there anyone improving behind? I think it's only Nick de Vries who's on a flyer.
00:51Magnussen couldn't improve. Now Nick de Vries currently in 20th. Can he find a step forward? Can he find a
00:57great lap?
00:58No, it's 20th position for Nick de Vries at the moment.
01:01It's Russell v Bottas for the final spot. Here we go on board with George.
01:05So George Russell, round Turn 9, name for Jochen Rindt, and we go to Turn 10.
01:09He's fighting the wheel a little bit. Stroll's gone over the line in 11th, and Russell cuts the beam to
01:13go up to 10th.
01:14Can Bottas take a step forward? Both Alfa Romeos are out there at the moment trying to find an improvement.
01:20Yuki Tsunoda finds himself in the drop zone thanks to a late lap that gets Valtteri Bottas through.
01:27That's one Alfa. How about the next one? Joe Kuan Yew does improve his position, but he's heading out at
01:32the first hurdle.
01:33Tsunoda, Joe, Sargent, Magnussen, and de Vries as Russell caught that lap that he needed, and Bottas makes it through
01:42by two hundredths of a second.
01:46One lap for all of these guys to find a better time. The margin's so close between the top and
01:52the drop zone.
01:53It's only half a second now between Verstappen and Stroll even, so you've got to push as hard as possible,
01:59yet not go over track limits.
02:00It's a knife edge for everyone. He improves to 10th position, but that is not what he needed.
02:06Surely won't be enough. Everyone behind him is improving, including this man who goes second.
02:10That drops Russell out in Q2, and there's more improvements coming in.
02:14So, Perez finds the lap that he needed, we believe at the moment, all of these laps over the line.
02:20Take them with a pinch of salt, but it looks all right for Esteban Ocon. He's currently in the drop
02:25zone.
02:25No.
02:26Went wide.
02:27Goes wide in the final quarter, and so up to seventh position only on the tone page.
02:32Checkered flag will be out now, and it's step forward or go home.
02:37Alonso up to six. He was about to be on the bubble there, but managed to find a better time.
02:42Hülkenberg's got a lap that gets him in, and the driver at risk is Pierre Gasly.
02:47Stroll delivers ahead of his teammate. We haven't seen that much this year.
02:50Only once in qualifying has he been the lead one.
02:52Bottas goes over the line, and Perez's time! Perez's time has been deleted!
02:58Unbelievable for Sergio Perez.
03:00How has this happened for him? Three flying laps, all easily quick enough to be in the top three,
03:07and yet they're all over track limits.
03:09He's a little wide of the apex. He just didn't need to be doing that. He was flying on that
03:14lap.
03:14Be a little bit more circumspect in the final corner.
03:17He was okay on the way in, but he has just nibbled over on the way out, and he's done.
03:23Here's the way that the French driver went out in the second part of qualifying.
03:27I think this one wasn't particularly close. He's wide at the apex coming in there, and it's still close.
03:33It's still close. It's not as close as some others.
03:36Going out, Russell, Ocon, Piastri, Bottas, and the main headline, Sergio Perez,
03:42who the last time he was in the final part of qualifying was Miami.
03:50Defining stuff now for Verstappen. That is easily within track limits.
03:54Final corner. Yeah, that's within it as well.
03:57So clean lap for Max Verstappen across the line.
03:59Time to beat a 104.5 for the rest of the field as he goes to the top of the
04:05page.
04:05Now Charles Leclerc in the middle part of the lap.
04:08That's a surprise. The infield where Verstappen is usually fantastic.
04:13Sainz has gone into second place. Leclerc, winner of the Grand Prix here one year ago.
04:19Charles Leclerc over the line, and he can't beat Verstappen's time.
04:22He's two tenths of a second away. Norris, a star of qualifying so far, P4.
04:28What can Alonso do? Has never been in the top four here at the end of a Sunday.
04:33He's fifth in the order. What about Hülkenberg, who's been a star of one lap pace so far,
04:37but he's ninth in the classification. Is there an improvement out there for anyone in the field?
04:44Charles Leclerc, two tenths of a second away. We've seen that surmounted in the past.
04:47So Verstappen will know that he needs to take an edge forward. He needs to take a step up.
04:52Max Verstappen with a personal best in the middle sector as he looks to claim his fourth pole in a
04:57row,
04:58and he's 26 in his career. It's within the white lines. It's rapid once again.
05:03Max Verstappen improves by a tenth of a second. A 1.04.3 for the championship leader and two-time
05:11champion.
05:11And it would have to be a storming lap to get on terms with that. But Sainz is in the
05:16ballpark.
05:17The final two corners will have to be mighty. Alonso has gone P3. Hülkenberg goes into seventh position.
05:24Stroll goes ahead of his teammate. Great effort from Lance Stroll. Al qualifies his teammate for only the second time
05:30this year.
05:30What can Sainz do across the line? Sainz goes to the front row, past his teammate.
05:35But Charles Leclerc in the middle sector is 100th up on Max Verstappen's time.
05:40It's been Leclerc. Oh, he's on the edge again. It's Leclerc Perez or Verstappen on pole this year.
05:46Can it be a second pole this season for Charles Leclerc across the line? No, he's missed out by half
05:52a tenth of a second.
05:53All in. On the edge once again. And the top two separated by four hundredths of a second as Hamilton
06:01claims P5.
06:03It was tight. It was tense. But guess who? It's Max Verstappen with his fourth pole in a row.
06:10He's 26th in his career. Leclerc gave it everything. But it's a 1-0-4-3-9-1 that's good
06:18enough for pole.
06:19And he will start Sunday's Grand Prix from the front of the field.
06:23Well done, Max. Well position, mate.
06:25Not too bad. Yeah. Good, good run. Nice.
06:30Absolutely brilliant qualifying. I did wonder when Verstappen was going again, did he really need to do much of an
06:35improvement?
06:36Yes, he did. Otherwise, he would have found himself not on the front row.
06:40Well done.
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