Well, well, well what a quali that was, at one point I didn’t know who would be where at one point!
But Max Verstappen manages to get his first pole position of his home grand prix, with Lewis joining him on the front row and it was only 0.38s between the pair. Valtteri takes P3, which makes Max under pressure from both of the Mercedes, especially because of the strategy, Mercedes have both drivers in top 3, where as Max is on his own and his team-mate is no where to be seen…
The rest of the grid are as follows- P4: Gasly, P5: Leclerc, P6: Sainz, P7: Giovinazzi, P8: Ocon, P9: Alonso, P10: Ricciardo, P11: Russell, P12: Stroll, P13: Norris, P14: Latifi, P15: Tsunoda, P16: Perez, P17: Vettel, P18: Kubica, P19: Schumacher and finally P20: Mazepin.
I feel like the grid is a bit of a mix match this weekend, there some good results for some teams where as other teams its been quite disappointing…
I said both Ferrari drivers need a good weekend and they’ve started it of good, but tomorrow is where it counts as thats where the points are dished out.
Not a good day for Lando, his been a bit of the pace today, whether thats due to having under-estimated the track or just simply being caught out by the red flags in Q2. We all know what he can do, so i’m sure we will see him doing some brave over takes tomorrow to get some points!
Not the best qualifying for Williams either, having both cars bring out two red flags isn’t the best but lucky for them they have free tyre choice with both cars and hopefully they can play a good strategy to get some points!
Now onto Perez, who actually quite shocked me. Starting P16, on a track which isn’t known for over-taking but if you want to take risks which we saw some Formula Three drivers do earlier on in the day, they do pay off.
Now onto the one who impressed me the most… It’s Antonio Giovinazzi starting P7, where did that pace come from in the Alfa Romeo!! You always want to do well on race weekends but even more so when a reserve driver stands in for your team-mate, but he has just excelled today! Could he possibly have a point to prove that maybe he deserves to stay in F1? All I know is that one performance like this isn’t going to cut it, but if he has now fount a good way with the car and use it tomorrow he could be in contention for some points!
Predictions-
My top five predictions for tomorrow are: P1- Hamilton, P2: Bottas, P3: Verstappen, P4: Gasly and P5: Alonso. Fastest lap I think will go to Bottas.
I’d like to see the likes of Norris, Russell, Latifi in the top 10 and get some points but it’s all about the risk in overtaking here, are they willing to do it? I think tomorrow will be a very good race, no-one knows how these 72 laps are going to go but I am very excited!
Times for tomorrow-
The race starts at §4:00pm (BST), and 15:00pm (CEST). As well as Formula Three in the morning at 9:45am (BST) and 10:45am (CEST)