At the sharp end, the prospects for a fabulous qualifying shoot-out have rarely looked better in the turbo-hybrid era, with Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull all genuine contenders for pole position.
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Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton qualified third, a remarkable recovery after his auto suffered a fuel pressure problem at the start of the final session and had to be pushed back along the pitlane. “Overall I think it’s OK, I think the pace is in the auto, we struggled a bit to get it out today”.
“I think we have a strong package of new bits here and there and we obviously want to make progress and want to make sure we close the gap to Mercedes rather than looking at what’s going on behind”.
In contrast, Ricciardo, was thrilled to secure the maiden pole of his career with a blistering lap.
“I think it is a place where the driver can make more of a difference, a place where you need to have the confidence as a driver to be able to make the difference”.
The 18-year-old Verstappen became the youngest F1 race victor when he won in Spain two weeks ago.
He will start last but one on Sunday after he clipped the barrier on the entrance to the chicane at the high-speed swimming pool complex, breaking his right-front suspension, and crashing head-on into the wall.
Verstappen’s crash and a blown engine in Brazilian Felipe Nasr’s Sauber meant red flags were waved twice to stop the session in the opening phase. Verstappen, who also crashed in final practice earlier on Saturday, emerged from the Red Bull cockpit with only his dignity bruised.
Both the Scuderia and the four-time world champion and are under pressure to perform after an inconsistent start to the season, and he admitted it was a “scrappy day” despite finishing third in P1.
He was three tenths adrift of his McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso, who made it through to Q3, and posted a lap good enough for 10th.
Elsewhere, Sebastian Vettel was fourth for Ferrari with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg fifth.
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The Finn suffered a five-place grid penalty for changing his gear box between FP3 and qualifying.
