Qually will take place 4hrs before the race. If qually cant take place grid position will be decided by the last free practise times. Meaning Bottas on pole, Hamilton 2nd and Verstappen 3rd.
I thought if qually didnt run then race positions where decided by world championship standings. However the above paragraph is what i read this morning.
I genuinely think Lewis has gotten wise to Mercedes data sharing when they used to tell Nico where he was losing time so he doesn't give it everything until Q3.
He was hugely fast in Sector 1. And that sequence of corners is very challenging.
i'm sure they all do that to an extent, it seems all the teams are very aware of the times and speeds of the other cars through all parts of the circuit.
It's one of the things that i always find amazing when i actually think about it, the way the drivers can do an 'easy' lap that's like only half a second or less off their best, or drive to very specific lap times that are still within such a small margin of their maximum.
I'm sure the engine/system settings and whatnot help to an extent, but it's still a rather crazy level of focus and consistency.