The first qualifying round was unusually even, only 1.1 seconds separated the fastest time from the jumbo place. But when the speed picked up and the track got faster, so did the times.
Just as many believed in advance, it was Red Bull that proved to be the fastest.
Verstappen drove around the barely 5.5 kilometer track 0.13 seconds faster than team mate Sergio Perez.
- I can't remember a more even qualifier, says Perez.
Ferrari grabbed both places in the second grid through Chales Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Despite poor results in the pre-season tests and in the weekend's practice, Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton got good qualifying times and start just behind Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, in sixth and seventh place.