FP1 was followed by sprint qualifying on Friday afternoon — and it was an excellent return to form for Max Verstappen.
He looked dialed in as his Red Bull made it count in the final, eight-minute SQ3 shootout for the top 10 sprint grid places.
His 1:32.833 beat George Russell’s Mercedes by just 0.012 seconds, while Lando Norris was P4 — sandwiched by the two Ferraris.
Not that Norris was happy with that, having struggled throughout the opening day and openly feared a disastrous outcome in sprint quali.
That was what his McLaren teammate endured, as Oscar Piastri breached track limits to see his best time deleted and he tumbled out in SQ1; starting the sprint 16th on the grid.
Franco Colapinto — P10 in his Williams — and both Haas drivers were the impressive performances to make SQ3, while Sergio Perez getting knocked out in SQ3 for P11 was much less so.
