QUALIFYING REPORT
The Briton’s time in P1 was short,
however, as Vettel swiftly appeared
to dislodge him, the Ferrari driving
lapping almost three tenths quicker
than the Mercedes man. Vettel also
took top spot on soft tyres, whereas
Hamilton had used the supersofts.
Raikkonen, who also used only the
soft tyre, took third ahead of Bottas,
while Williams’ Lance Stroll put in an
excellent final flyer to claim fifth place
ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel
Ricciardo.
The Australian ensured passage
to Q2 with a time 1:34.041, set
early in the session. There was no
such comfort for team-mate Max
Verstappen, however.
The Dutchman was slow on
opening flyer and after reporting
a problem with his power unit he
abandoned the lap and retreated to the
pit lane.
He was soon back on track but
time was rapidly running out. Midway
through the lap he was being fed
possible solutions to the loss of power
by his team but the remedial action
appeared to achieve little.
His first time, set 30 seconds
before the flag was good enough for
P17 and he was told to try for another
lap, but any possibility of improvement
was eradicated moments later when
Sauber’s Antonio Giovinazzi crashed
heavily in the final corner just as the
chequered flag came out.