“It feels good,” said Leclerc. “This one I probably did not expect because I thought Red Bull was stronger but in the last lap everything came together. I’m really excited for tomorrow”.
Lance Stroll will start tomorrow in 19th place after hitting the wall twice in two laps, ending up stranded at Turn 2 and triggering a red flag towards the end of Q1.
That set up a busy shootout, with 13 cars on track and two-and-a-half minutes remaining. Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo were among the drivers at risk, and just above the drop zone.
At the restart, there was only just enough time for all cars on track to have another flying lap; Mick Schumacher only just making it across the line with seconds to spare, but it didn’t help him. The Haas driver was eliminated along with his team-mate Kevin Magnussen, both Williams drivers and Stroll, while Verstappen headed the session, a hundredth ahead of his team-mate.
The second session saw more cars meet the wall. Vettel slid head-on into the barrier at Turn 15 under braking, and managed to recover, while Verstappen, Leclerc and Yuki Tsunoda were among those to brush the hoardings.
Both McLarens were in the drop zone as the clock ran down and Lando Norris did his Q3 hopes no favours when he ran down the escape road at Turn 15. Both he and Daniel Ricciardo were eliminated, along with Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas.
Sergio Perez was fastest in Q2, a tenth of a second ahead of Leclerc, with Sainz and Verstappen close behind.
Stewards said that they would look into Hamilton’s driving after he was driving slowly and apparently holding up Norris.