After poor showing in the free practice sessions, qualifying was the bottom of the slippery slope for Red Bull and Verstappen this weekend so far.
It wasn't just poor on track performance from both Red Bull's, with the car being incredibly difficult to drive and unable to get a decent lap out of, but Max Verstappen faced the lash of the stewards with 3 seperate impeding incidents being investigated. He was lucky enough to scrape by with just two reprimands for the incidents.
It wasn't much better for his teammate Sergio Perez, as he also struggled to get a decent lap together during qualifying - in fact spinning coming out of the final corner during Q1, briefly bringing out the yellow flags as he got the car facing the right way again. Thankfully for the Mexican driver, he was able to keep the car out of the wall and stick a new set of tyres on to get through to Q2. But the pain didn't stop there as the car was out of balance entirely for both drivers, and they provisionally qualified P13 and P11.
Lance Stroll had a big incident at the end of Q3, following closely behind a car infront, the dirty air caused him to understeer on the final corner and the kerb unsettled his car, sending him hurtling 150mph into the barriers. His car spun and hit at a slight angle, untethering his front left tyre, spinning the car around further and hitting the wall again on the rear. His tyre was sent flying across the track, and thankfully Lando Norris - who was finishing a push lap just behind Stroll - was able to avoid being collected by any of the flying debris.
"It happens quickly but I know why I crashed. Having the car two seconds in front is really bad for aero. You lose tonnes of downforce around here with the funnelling of the walls especially." - Lance Stroll on his crash during qualifying [Sky Sports F1]
Stroll was out of his car and in the medical centre for precautionary checks, but got away without a scratch and will continue the weekend. But it will be a long night for the mechanics to repair the car, after taking a significant amount of damage from the incident.
It was a brilliant start to the weekend for McLaren, especially with Lando Norris, as the new upgrades on the one car seem to be treating the papaya team very well. Whilst they only put the new upgrades on Norris' car, Piastri has been doing very well to keep up with Lando during the free practice sessions, providing essential data for the team for both race pace & qualifying pace, but also as a comparison to the other car with the new upgrades and areas that have improved the overall performance.
The British based team seem to have found the sweet spot with these new upgrades, changins pretty much every major part of the car in some fashion, adapting their existing design down a similar trajectory that Red Bull have followed throughout the season so far. The gap has been closed significantly between them and the top teams, with them being a serious contender for pole position this weekend. It will be incredibly promising going into Suzuka with both McLarens carrying the new upgrade packaged - they will be a force to reckon with as the season enters the final stages.
Ferrari and Mercedes were also on form this weekend so far, with the two Scuderia cars putting up a fight for pole position during qualifying, but the Mercedes of George Russell just pipped Leclerc for P2, splitting the two Ferrari's from a front row lockout. A 5th pole positon for Sainz (2nd this season), sees the spaniard leading the grid into turn 1 on Sunday, and with his teammate starting directly behind him on the grid in 3rd means Ferrari have the opportunity to use both cars to bring home a potential 1-2 if they get their strategy right.
Mercedes have been a tad off this weekend so far, but with track positioning during a quickly evolving track surface, they were able to get the most out of their cars and get George Russell on the front row and Lewis Hamilton was able to put his car 5th on the starting grid. The top 5 were incredibly close, that it could have been any of them on pole position.
It might have taken a few races this season, but the top teams seem to have finally closed the gap on one another, and more importantly on Red Bull.
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