A track limits violation on his final lap in Qualifying 1 sealed Ricciardo’s fate as he fell from 12th to 18th, ending his session at the first hurdle.

Rubbing salt into the wound, team-mate Yuki Tsunoda progressed to Qualifying 3 to claim eighth on the grid for Sunday’s race.

Verstappen ultimately dominated the session with a lap 0.270s faster than Carlos Sainz in second, while Sergio Perez was third best.

Oscar Piastri will start out of sixth, alongside Charles Leclerc on the third row of the grid and directly behind his team-mate, Lando Norris.

Alex Albon was the first driver to post a time, recording a 1:18.709s to open the session, though that was soon deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 10.

Conditions had remained largely stable from those seen in Free Practice 3 earlier in the day with a tail wind down the pit straight.

Having been second fastest in final practice, Verstappen reported understeer in his Red Bull Racing in the opening moments of the session.

The Dutchman described the handling of his Red Bull Racing as ‘crazy’ as he shot to the top of the timesheets with a 1:17.478s.

Both Ferrari drivers soon pipped him, Leclerc going fastest with a 1:17.244s and Carlos Sainz second just 0.045s slower than his Ferrari team-mate.

There was early drama at Alpine with Pierre Gasly picking up a left-rear puncture – luckily after completing his flying lap – which prompted him to ease the car back to the pit lane.

After the first runs, George Russell found himself only 17th of the 19 runners.

The Brit complained about front brake issues in his Mercedes, reporting to the team that it didn’t feel like they were working.

A second flying lap saw him climb out of the danger zone, with Daniel Ricciardo soon dropping into it.

As the Australian headed out for his final attempt, he languished in 17th while team-mate Yuki Tsunoda held 12th.

Albon had leapt up the order to sixth with his final lap in Qualifying 1, set slightly out of sequence with the bulk of the field.

Personal bests through the first two thirds of the lap translated into a 1:17.466s, lifting him to 10th.

However, there were a host of drivers on personal bests behind him that could potentially have bumped him.

That included Tsunoda, who ended the session eighth best, Ricciardo slipping to 12th as Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly, and Zhou Guanyu were eliminated.

However, there was a twist, with Ricciardo’s best lap deleted for track limits at Turn 6. With his lap deleted, he slumped to 18th.

Zhou’s cause wasn’t helped by damage to his front wing, picked up after running wide at Turn 10 on his final flying lap.

As the opening laps in Qualifying 2 were logged, Oscar Piastri had the home-town crowd cheering as he recorded the second-fastest time behind Verstappen.

The Dutchman laid down a 1:16.387s to Piastri’s 1:16.601 – a nearly eight-tenth improvement on the Aussie’s Qualifying 1 time.

Ferrari ran out of sequence compared to Red Bull Racing and McLaren, with Carlos Sainz going fastest midway through the session with Leclerc rising to third moments before the bulk of the field headed out for their final flying laps.

With an minute remaining, Albon, Tsunoda, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, and Esteban Ocon sat in the elimination zone.

Bottas improved with his final lap, but not enough, and moved up only to 12th.

He was joined by his former team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, who was also eliminated, the pair joined by Albon, Magnussen, and Ocon.

The true pecking order began to emerge as Qualifying 3 began, with Sainz ahead of Leclerc only to be bumped by Verstappen as Perez slotted in fourth.

Behind them, Lando Norris was next best, Piastri losing time as he rode the exit kerb at Turn 10.

His excursion was less severe than Fernando Alonso had, the Spaniard running wide at Turn 7 and bouncing through the gravel.

He did well not to find the wall, on either side, and return to the garage ninth fastest of the nine drivers who’d recorded times.

The odd man out was his Aston Martin teammate, Lance Stroll, who took to the track with five minutes remaining.

It made him the only car on track, and saw him start his flying lap just before the field began to file out of the lane for their final pushes.

The Canadian climbed to eighth with his one and only lap, which saw a sizeable wobble through Turn 7, pushing Tsunoda to ninth and his team-mate to 10th.

Verstappen scorched around to a 1:15.915s, an untouchable marker which left him over 0.2s clear of Sainz in second.

Perez will start third with Norris alongside him on the second row, while Leclerc and Piastri will start out of Row 3.

Next was Russell, Tsunoda, Stroll, and Alonso.