QUALIFYING REPORT
Bottas took third ahead of
Raikkonen who made a mistake
in the final sector after setting the
fastest first sector of the session.
Fifth place went to Verstappen,
while team-mate Ricciardo had a
strangely muted Q3, finishing half a
second behind the Dutchman in P6.
Alonso put in a huge performance to
qualify his McLaren in seventh place
ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez,
Massa, and the second Force India
of Esteban Ocon.
Hamilton said afterwards, “The
fans are amazing and I have been
growing here over past 10 years,
amazing job by team. I could see the
fans cheering and the flags were out
and is a morale boost when it is not
your home circuit.”
Vettel reflected, “I am afraid
it was [the last corner]. The last
chicane is a tricky one for me. It was
very close, well done to Lewis. It was
a busy morning, big thank you to the
team for the change in the last few
minutes.”
“They did an engine change in
sub two hours. It is a miracle they
got me out. It would have been nice
to get them pole but hopefully a good
race,” he added.
Bottas said, “I am very pleased
and it is always a good starting point
when you start from the second row
and the guys did a great job to get
the car back on track.”