(Motorsport news) An exquisite final lap by Mercedes’ flying Finn Valtteri Bottas was enough to leave behind race favourites Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen for the leading spot on Saturday’s F1 Sprint Grid.

Earlier this week, Mercedes had confirmed that George Russell will replace Valtteri Bottas at the Silver Arrows, and the Finnish racing driver put his best foot forward, moving from fifth to first in the final laps of Q3 with a time of 1:19:555, 0.096 seconds quicker than his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Max Verstappen, who is three points clear of Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers Championship finished in third place and always looked on the backfoot at a track where Red Bull has traditionally struggled. Verstappen didn’t look in competition with Bottas or Hamilton throughout the qualifiers, instead his focus seemed to be on keeping the Mercedes engine powered McLaren’s driven by Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo at bay.

Aston Martin and Alpine dropped out of Q2 and were fined €5,000 for a pit lane incident. Ferrari had a disappointing show at the home circuit, finishing seventh and eighth with Carlos Sainz finishing ahead of Charles Leclerc. Last year's winner Pierre Gasly finished sixth in the AlphaTauri and will start ahead of the Ferrari’s at the F1 Sprint Grid.

Also read: Alex Albon replaces George Russell at Williams for the 2022 season