The Red Bull driver looked to be in formidable form early in qualifying but Leclerc went faster on the first runs in the final session in his Ferrari. Mercedes appeared to be set for their most competitive qualifying session of the year – Hamilton was second behind Verstappen in the first session, and Russell in the same place behind Leclerc by just 0.01secs in the second. But it did not quite come together for them in the final session. The incident also meant Russell failed to complete a representative lap in the final session, as his first run was on used tyres, and he came across Perez on his second.

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