Lance Stroll was beaten by his team mate in qualifying for the 15th grand prix in a row in Shanghai. Here’s the key data from Saturday’s session at Suzuka.
Lap time change from practice to qualifying
The shift in wind direction between Friday and Saturday seemed to cause problems for some teams more than others. Aston Martin was one of four teams whose drivers did not improve on their Friday lap times in final practice.
However some of these were likely prioritising long runs on higher fuel after the disruption to the second session on Friday, or were unable to complete planned performance runs due to another red flag at the end of Saturday practice.
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Gaps between team mates
Liam Lawson was a second slower than Max Verstappen in their first qualifying session together and seven tenths down in their second. How he might have fared in his third – the first on a track he’d driven at before – we’ll never know.
Yuki Tsunoda got closer than Lawson but was still almost half a second down. Tsunoda ran a noticeably steeper rear wing than Verstappen, a trait we’ve seen before. However he seemed more at ease with the RB21 than Lawson did.
For the first time this year the biggest gap between team mates was not at Red Bull. Jack Doohan was only a tenth of a second off Pierre Gasly at one stage in Q1, but made a mistake in Spoon on his final run which accounted for the difference between them.
Team mate battle sequences
The biggest gap between a pair of team mates this week occured at Aston Martin. There, for the 15th grand prix qualifying session in a row, Fernando Alonso beat Lance Stroll. The team’s younger driver has done better in sprint race qualifying sessions, beating Alonso in one two weeks ago, but in the regular qualifying format he continues to lag behind.
The gap between the two was wider than usual due to Stroll’s off-track moment in Q1. “He ran wide at turn six due to some strong tailwinds,” team principal Andy Cowell explained. “There was a gust of wind 12kph stronger than his earlier run and that pushed him wide and through the gravel. We knew the wind was going to be an issue today, but he was just unlucky.”
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Out-qualified team mate
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | 15 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | 10 |
| 3 | George Russell | 9 |
| 4 | Pierre Gasly | 6 |
| 5 | Alexander Albon | 5 |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | 2 |
| = | Isack Hadjar | 2 |
| 8 | Oliver Bearman | 1 |
| = | Charles Leclerc | 1 |
| = | Lando Norris | 1 |
Out-qualified by team mate
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lance Stroll | 15 |
| 2 | Liam Lawson | 9 |
| 3 | Jack Doohan | 4 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 3 |
| = | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 3 |
| 6 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 2 |
| = | Yuki Tsunoda | 2 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | 1 |
| = | Lewis Hamilton | 1 |
| = | Oscar Piastri | 1 |
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Q1 and Q3
As Lawson reached Q2 this weekend, every driver on the grid has now made it beyond Q1 at least once this season.
Eliminated in Q1
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 2 |
| = | Jack Doohan | 2 |
| 3 | Nico Hulkenberg | 1 |
| = | Esteban Ocon | 1 |
| = | Lance Stroll | 1 |
Reached Q3
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Russell | 14 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | 10 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | 7 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | 6 |
| 5 | Alexander Albon | 3 |
| = | Lewis Hamilton | 3 |
| = | Charles Leclerc | 3 |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar | 2 |
| = | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 2 |
| 10 | Oliver Bearman | 1 |
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