Ferrari swallows bittersweet pill: Leclerc eliminates Hamilton

Hamilton was tipped to achieve a good qualifying result, seeing the pace that had been displaced up to that moment by Ferrari.

However, in Q2 everything unravelled, as Leclerc wet deep into Turn 1, Hamilton lost the rear coming out of Turn 16, which cost him time and left him only in P8.

On his subsequent run, with the previous time being set on medium tyres, this time he had donned on soft red-band tyres.

This however, didn't produce the expected gains, as he only managed to improve marginally on his previous lap, which demoted him to P10.

Alonso then crossed the finish line ahead of the Briton, but it was Hamilton's teammate, Leclerc, who eventually eliminated both the Spaniard as well as the Brit.

With a tank-slapper coming out of Turn 2, the Monegasque drove on the edge, closing up to the walls with confidence, which gave him the best overall time in Sector 2 and promoted him to P4 at the line.

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