Mexico City GP: Carlos Sainz on pole but Max Verstappen ahead of Lando Norris

Max Verstappen edged out title rival Lando Norris as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz claimed pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Norris trails Verstappen by 57 points in the drivers’ championship with five races remaining and 146 points up for grabs and needs to start making major inroads into the Dutchman’s advantage.

McLaren failed in their bid to overturn Norris’ controversial penalty which demoted him behind Verstappen in Austin last weekend – a result the British driver labelled a “momentum killer” in his pursuit of a maiden title. And those hopes suffered a further blow as Norris could only finish third in qualifying for Sunday’s 71-lap race, a place behind his title rival and over three-tenths off the pace of pole-sitter Sainz.

Norris topped the first two sessions of qualifying but had no answer to the blistering lap of the Spaniard, with his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc taking fourth on the grid. Verstappen has won five of the last six Grands Prix in Mexico and is bidding for a fourth win in a row at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday.

The Red Bull driver endured a difficult run-up to qualifying, suffering from engine issues which limited his running on Friday before complaining of a lack of grip in final practice. But the Dutchman will be delighted to have pulled it together for qualifying and will hope to keep Norris at bay on the lengthy 768-metre blast down to turn one.

George Russell will line up fifth for Mercedes, a place clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Norris will not have support from team-mate Oscar Piastri after the Australian suffered a dramatic dip in form – being knocked out in the first part of qualifying having been fastest in final practice just hours earlier.

In a blow to McLaren’s constructors’ title bid, Piastri qualified only 17th and was joined in a Q1 elimination by Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez. The Mexican, who admitted on Thursday he had endured a “terrible season”, disappointed his raucous home support by finishing a lowly 18th as pressure intensifies on his Red Bull future.

McLaren lead Red Bull by 40 points, with Ferrari only a further eight points adrift.

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11:27 PM BST

Ferrari only trail McLaren by 48 points in the standings

Piastri is out of the equation at the front of the field, whilst Norris is behind one Ferrari and ahead of the other. If they finish where they start tomorrow then that gap will come down to 26. Given the form they are showing recently, Ferrari could sneak this constructors’ title. Sadly for Red Bull, Perez’s performances are why they are in this position in the first place and he does not seem to be much use now, either.

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11:19 PM BST

You often get very feisty opening laps in Mexico

What chance of a repeat of that tomorrow? Not specifically this crash from 2023 that eliminated Sergio Perez (above), but the action. Verstappen is there, so a high chance of some argy-bargy.

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11:15 PM BST

Sainz speaks after a sixth career F1 pole

I’ve said it before but it’s a shame he is not going to a team that is more competitive than Williams.

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11:13 PM BST

Verstappen on his front-row start

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11:12 PM BST

Norris speaks after his P3

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11:11 PM BST

Well, that was a fun session

Mistakes from Hulkenberg and Hamilton on their final laps cost them.

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11:09 PM BST

Q3 – Classification

1. SAI 1:15.946

2. VER +0.225

3. NOR +0.314

4. LEC +0.319

5. RUS +0.410

6. HAM +0.705

7. MAG +0.940

8. GAS +0.946

9. ALB +1.119

10. HUL +1.419

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11:08 PM BST

CARLOS SAINZ TAKES POLE FOR THE 2024 MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX

Both of his laps good enough for pole in Q3. Verstappen found a lap when he needed it but it was not enough to beat Sainz. Norris’s lap wasn’t too bad either but he just didn’t have the supremacy he seemed to have in Q1 and Q2. Leclerc fourth ahead of the two Mercedes led by Russell.

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11:07 PM BST

Q3 – Verstappen up to second!

He splits the Ferraris! Norris needs a mighty final sector, but he finishes third behind Verstappen by under a tenth!

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11:06 PM BST

Q3 – A fine first sector for Leclerc

And also for Sainz, who goes faster still! Verstappen 0.087sec off Sainz’s previous time and two-tenths down on their current ones. Sainz looks to be on the better lap here. Norris on Verstappen’s pace but not the Ferraris…

Leclerc cannot beat Sainz’s time but Sainz improves! Norris fastest in the middle sector…

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11:04 PM BST

Q3 – Norris on the radio

Sounds like he is slightly worried about his out lap and getting across the line in tip-top shape.

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11:03 PM BST

Q3 – Still not sure what happened to Norris

He is closer to Hulkenberg in eighth than he is to provisional pole man Sainz.

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11:01 PM BST

Q3 – Order after first runs

1. SAI 1:16.055

2. LEC +0.360

3. RUS +0.454

4. HAM +0.596

5. NOR +0.882

6. GAS +1.214

7. ALB +1.283

8. HUL +1.526

9. MAG +2.049

10. VER (NO TIME)

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11:00 PM BST

Q3 – Pressure on both Verstappen and Norris then

But for differing reasons. Verstappen because he doesn’t have a lap on the board and Norris because he has a not very good lap on the board. Sainz got a good slipstream behind Hulkenberg on that lap.

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10:59 PM BST

Q3 – Leclerc narrowly misses out on provisional pole

But Sainz goes fastest of anyone by three-tenths. A fine, fine lap.

And Verstappen has his lap time deleted for track limits! It was at turn two, cutting the corner. Possibly at turn three as well. 

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10:58 PM BST

Q3 – Verstappen crosses the line

It’s a 1:16.638. What has Norris got? He’s miles behind. Nearly six-tenths. He never really got close to Verstappen, whose time is still slower than Norris’s leading Q2 time. Hmmm.

Leclerc on a good lap, Sainz with the fastest first sector of anyone!

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10:57 PM BST

Q3 – Verstappen the first of the big guns out

Magnussen and Hulkenberg set a 27.6 just under in sector one and Verstappen is 0.3sec up on that. He’s not competing with the Haas cars, of course. Norris is a quarter of a second slower than Verstappen after one sector, though.

Max is flying here.

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10:56 PM BST

Q3 – Another mention for Haas

This track used to be when they would have inexplicably bad performances, even going by their tendency for their in-season development trend to be poor. They have both cars in Q3 here.

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10:53 PM BST

Q3 begins!

Who is in the fight for pole? Norris, Verstappen certainly. Both Ferraris? Maybe. Mercedes? Not so much.

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10:51 PM BST

A slight delay to qualifying

They are just checking/repairing the barriers after Tsunoda’s shunt. Q3 will start at 10.53 BST, though.

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10:46 PM BST

We didn’t get a full read on the cars there

Because of the crash at the end. Norris obviously favourite here, though. Replays show Tsunoda binned it in the stadium section, losing the rear end of the car on the out lap…

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10:42 PM BST

Q2 – Classification

1. NOR 1:16.301

2. VER +0.213

3. SAI +0.214

4. LEC +0.340

5. RUS +0.636

6. HAM +0.672

7. ALB +0.687

8. HUL +0.694

9. MAG +0.702

10. GAS +0.747

These are the men through to Q3.

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10:41 PM BST

RED FLAG

Tsunoda is in the wall. Not a big crash but that brings an end to the session and means he, RB team-mate Lawson, Alonso, Stroll and Bottas are all eliminated…

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10:40 PM BST

Q2 – Ferraris cross the line

Sainz in third and Leclerc in fourth, having not set a lap time before.

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10:38 PM BST

Q2 – Albon improves

He moves to fifth, having already out-qualified new team-mate Franco Colapinto. The Argentine has been giving him a run for his money since he replaced Logan Sargeant from Monza onwards. Albon could do with a good points-scoring weekend here where he has the upper hand. A bit of a dip in form.

Leclerc with the fastest first sector of anyone.

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10:37 PM BST

Q2 – Order after the first runs

1. NOR

2. VER +0.328

3. RUS +0.636

4. HAM +0.672

5. SAI +0.726

6. GAS +0.747

7. ALB +0.789

8. TSU +0.828

9. LAW +0.861

10. ALO +0.867
    ELIMINATION ZONE:

11. MAG

12. STR

13. HUL

14. BOT

15. LEC

Leclerc has yet to set a time.

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10:35 PM BST

Q2 – Norris goes fastest

0.328sec up on Verstappen and faster than his previous best in Q1. Russell in third, Hamilton fourth and Sainz fifth. All over half a second off Norris’s pace. Not sure many people have the ultimate pace to challenge Norris today by the looks of it. Maybe only Verstappen?

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10:33 PM BST

Q2 – Sainz about four-tenths off Verstappen’s pace

This has a difficult qualifying session to get a grip on, and I think the drivers are feeling that way, too. Easy to make a mistake at this track, so low grip it is.

Another good lap from Gasly who was, believe it or not, slowest of all in FP3.

Mind you, Piastri was fastest and look at him now…

Norris is flying with the fastest first two sectors…

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10:31 PM BST

Q2 – Verstappen’s early pace

A 1:16.629, which is about a tenth slower than the fastest time in Q1. Leclerc crosses the line a second off, though appears to have used tyres on. I thought Verstappen did too, mind you. Verstappen claimed the rear tyres were a bit “low grip” in sector two. Lost a bit of time riding the kerbs too. Leclerc actually has his lap time deleted, I assume for track limits.

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10:29 PM BST

Piastri reacts after his early exit

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10:26 PM BST

Q2 begins!

15 minutes and Alexander Albon is the first man out there, Verstappen not too far behind him.

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10:26 PM BST

This is probably a low moment for Perez’s career

There have been so high moments including several victories and some podiums here but, yeah, eliminated in Q1 at your home race in arguably your worst season in F1 will not be a fond memory.

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10:21 PM BST

Q1 – Classification

1. NOR 1:16.505

2. SAI +0.273

3. VER +0.298

4. LEC +0.467

5. MAG +0.620

6. GAS +0.644

7. TSU +0.677

8. HUL +0.681

9. ALB +0.684

10. RUS +0.689

11. HAM +0.801

12. ALO +0.802

13. LAW +0.875

14. BOT +0.888

15. STR +0.902

Result for Bottas, there. Into Q2!

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10:20 PM BST

Q1 ends – Norris fastest

OUT: COL, PIA, PER, OCO, ZHO

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10:19 PM BST

Q1 – Final runs still under way

Perez also out, by the way. Or does he have time to do another lap? I don’t think so. Ocon harrying around the stadium section to try and get out there. Can he? No.

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10:18 PM BST

Q1 – Magnussen goes fourth!

That dumps Piastri out! What a mess. How did that happen? Fastest in FP3 and out in Q1. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

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10:17 PM BST

Q1 – Into the final two minutes

Piastri has improved slightly in the second sector as has Perez. Whether it will be enough I am not sure…

Piastri crosses the line and goes 14th… that won’t be enough, surely. Perez 15th and the same applies to him. Indeed it will not as Leclerc moves from near the bottom into third.

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10:16 PM BST

Q1 – Bad news for Piastri…

His last lap, which only saw him move to 13th, has been deleted putting him 19th. Hmmm. I think he would have had to do another lap anyway. Norris is currently fastest by nearly half a second over Verstappen. Piastri does a cool down and battery charge lap and goes again. No mistakes this time. Perez still in the drop zone.

Piastri struggling to find the pace in sector one, as is Perez…

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10:14 PM BST

Q1 – Russell into fourth

Hamilton not looking on not quite as good, indeed he isn’t. Eighth fastest but 0.3sec off Verstappen. It’s tight out there. Piastri in the drop zone, as is Perez. Piastri has moved onto the soft tyres, wisely I guess.

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10:11 PM BST

Q1 – Leclerc doesn’t appear to have it hooked up

He’s down in ninth, 0.690sec off Verstappen. Hulkenberg goes second behind Verstappen by 0.188sec. Hard to know what to make of this order so far. Perez struggling to slow the car down in the slow speed, I think he says. Now Gasly moves in to second.

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10:10 PM BST

Q1 – Top 10 and gaps

1. VER

2. NOR

3. SAI

4. STR

5. ALB

6. COL

7. HAM

8. LEC

9. RUS

10. ALO

Not worth telling you the drivers in the drop zone because only one of them has set a lap.

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10:08 PM BST

Q1 – Three purple sectors for Verstappen

That means he moves top by two tenths, 1.5sec faster than his team-mate Perez…

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10:08 PM BST

Q1 – Norris with a fine lap

It’s 0.241sec faster than Sainz with Hamilton in third, albeit 0.645sec down on Norris’s pace. Piastri is about to cross the line in the other McLaren but he too is a long way down, eighth fastest and a second down.

We see a replay on the second straight. Does he lock a brake? Yes, he does. Not sure it would have cost him a second but making a mess of a corner at the start of the lap can have a compounding effect.

Verstappen going well, fastest in the first two sectors…

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10:06 PM BST

Q1 – Ferrari leads the way

Perez gets a big cheer in the baseball stadium complex but his lap is poor, more than a second down on leader Carlos Sainz, on the mediums both of the Ferraris.

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10:05 PM BST

Q1 – A mixture of medium and soft tyres so far

Ferrari and Mercedes on mediums, everyone else on the softs. Bottas and Zhou have both set lap times, with Bottas the faster of the two Sauber’s by 1.5sec. Zhou isn’t going to be racing in F1 next year and that is not undeserved, I am afraid.

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10:03 PM BST

Q1 – Nobody that desperate to get out at the very start

A couple of minutes in and we get a good few cars out. Hot track temperature today.

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10:01 PM BST

GREEN LIGHT! Q1 is go!

They are under way in Mexico City.

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09:57 PM BST

Five minutes until Q1 begins

Just under, in fact. It’s nice to look forward to every competitive session with a little bit of uncertainty and excitement isn’t it? We had a bit of that at the start of 2022 until Ferrari and Leclerc’s challenge faded. Then we just had Red Bull dominance for over a year. Thankfully F1 is in rude health at the moment. Enjoy it while you can because it is not and will not always be like this. Mr Norris is ready…

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09:50 PM BST

Remaining F1 races in 2024

October 27: Mexico City Grand Prix, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
November 3: Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Interlagos
November 23: Las Vegas Grand Prix
December 1: Qatar Grand Prix, Lusail
December 8: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina

Sao Paulo next weekend and Qatar are both sprint weekends. I think we will probably see the drivers’ championship wrapped up in Qatar. Verstappen needs to be 53 points ahead after the sprint there which does not seem too far off. Or, after the race, just 27 points ahead of Norris (Leclerc still in mathematical contention).

Vegas is also a possibility, needing to be 61 points ahead by the time the race has finished. Not too outlandish.

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09:45 PM BST

Not quite a retro livery from Williams this weekend

But nearly…

Yellow was a big part of the team’s identity (or rather, branding) during the 1980s and early 1990s. Wish we’d see more yellow. And black. Yellow and black is always a winner. Looked as good on the 2019 Renault as it did on the 1999 Jordan of Damon Hill’s last season.

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09:38 PM BST

Current constructor standings

On current form, McLaren’s biggest threat is Ferrari and not Red Bull. Since the return from summer break, McLaren have scored 178 points compared to the Scuderia’s 151, Red Bull’s 96 and Mercedes’ 78. Mercedes have failed to find the form that helped them to three wins in the four races before the mid-season hiatus.

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09:26 PM BST

An alternative championship outlook

How different might things have been if McLaren’s car was on the pace from the start of the season? Well, it would be closer but Norris has not exactly maximised his machinery since his maiden victory in Miami. In fact, here are the points total by driver since the start of that weekend in Florida.

Points totals since Chinese GP (14 rounds)

1. Verstappen 244

2. Norris 239

3. Piastri 209

4. Leclerc 199

5. Hamilton 158

6. Sainz 146

7. Russell 134

8. Perez 65

Whether or Norris should have done better than this is one thing (yes he should have). What this shows how close it has been since then, with just 98 points separating first and sixth in this list, or an average margin of seven points per round. This has been a very enjoyable F1 season.

Perez a massive outlier on this as he has less than half the next-best man. He is very fortunate to be in that seat. Whether he will be at the start of next year I am not sure. If Lawson carries on like he did in Austin…

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09:22 PM BST

Current driver standings

Five rounds and two of those sprint weekends left in the season. Norris lost ground to Verstappen in Austin and whilst it does not exactly end his hopes of the drivers’ title, it makes it a gargantuan task. Red Bull seem to have gotten on top of the worst of their problems.

Norris’s biggest hope is Verstappen having a DNF. Even were Norris to win with Verstappen not finishing this weekend 32 points over the remaining races is still a lot to make up.

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09:14 PM BST

If you missed it, here’s the Albon/Berman crash from FP1

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09:13 PM BST

Aston Martin’s struggles

In the races up until and including Canada, they scored 58 points, since then (10 rounds) they have scored just 28 points. In the same time Haas have scored 31, Williams 15 and RB and Alpine eight. That is a poor return considering the resources at their disposal. You feel that it has nothing to do with Alonso’s driving. Whatever problems have occured they have not been able to develop their way out of it. Given where they started in 2023, this is a worrying trend – especially when the regulations mostly carry over into 2025.

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09:08 PM BST

Fernando Alonso’s 400th F1 race entry this weekend

Technically not his 400th grand prix start but his 400th weekend involvement. His Aston Martin team are struggling in the extreme at the moment and there is probably only the outside chance of points this weekend. Mind you, that has been the case for a while. If points are on offer he won’t be far away, mind you…

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09:04 PM BST

Times after final practice

1. PIA 1:16.942

2. NOR +0.059

3. SAI +0.340

4. VER +0.511

5. HAM +0.568

6. LEC +0.740

7. TSU +0.810

8. RUS +0.849

9. MAG +0.982

10. LAW +1.002

11. ALB +1.019

12. BOT +1.174

13. COL +1.220

14. PER +1.295

15. ALO +1.306

16. HUL +1.327

17. STR +1.408

18. OCO +1.832

19. ZHO +1.936

20. GAS +1.962

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08:52 PM BST

Good evening

Welcome to our coverage for qualifying for the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. F1 returned here in 2015 and we have seen a race (whether the Mexican Grand Prix or this one) every year except for the pandemic-blighted year of 2020. Has it been a worthy addition to the calendar? Yes, on the whole.

The altitude as well as the track layout has produced some good moments, though this event has not been without its duller editions. Though what race track hasn’t had a few duds over a decade or so? And, naturally, how good a race is depends on how close the competition is too. At the moment it is very close, which normally makes for an interesting weekend.

Yes, the issue over track limits and racing rules has rumbled on into this weekend and will no doubt continue beyond. But there have been a few other talking points since the weekend began, namely a couple of big crashes in practice yesterday. The first came when Alexander Albon and Oliver Bearman (subbing in at Ferrari) collided in FP1 which was a strange incident.

Then came George Russell’s hefty crash in FP2, which resulted in a trip to the medical centre, because of a 30G impact. Thankfully he is OK now but it follows on from his crash in qualifying last week in Austin, with his team-mate Lewis Hamilton crashing early in the race. An expensive week or so for Mercedes.

FP3 finished a short while ago and McLaren looked the class of the field. Oscar Piastri – who was rather and strangely distant from team-mate Lando Norris in Austin – topped the field by less than a second over the second McLaren. Carlos Sainz was the closest non-McLaren driver, 0.340sec off Piastri’s time. Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull, albeit half a second off the ultimate pace.

Qualifying gets under way at 10pm BST and we will be here for all of the build-up, live updates and reaction from it.

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