QUALIFYING REPORT
Eliminated at this stage were Carlos
Sainz in the second Toro Rosso in P11,
Magnussen, Alonso, Ericsson and the
unfortunate Giovinazzi.
At the front of the pack the Mercedes
drivers and Ricciardo opted to sit out the
final run. Ferrari, though, chose to send
out its drivers and it was Räikkönen
who made the most of the lap. The Finn
jumped to the top of the order with a
time of 1:32.181, two tenths of a second
clear of Vettel who did not improve.
Having dominated the opening
segments it might have been expected
that Ferrari would again lead the way
at the start of Q3. It was Hamilton,
however, who set the early setting a
time of 1:31.90 to head by Vettel by just
over a tenths of second, with Bottas third
ahead of Raikkonen and Ricciardo.
And Hamilton kept the momentum
in the final runs. The first across the
line he set a benchmark of 1:31.678.
Bottas then slotted into P2 with a time of
1:31.865.
Raikkonen couldn’t get close to
that but Vettel was edging towards the
end of what was looking to be a very
competitive lap. In the end though he
couldn’t match Hamilton and finished
0.186 behind the Briton.
He was, however, 1000th of a
second quicker than Bottas and so
claimed his 72nd career front row start.
Ricciardo remained in fifth place ahead
of Massa, Hulkenberg, Perez, Kvyat and
Stroll.