Portuguese GP: Lewis snatches Pole from Bottas
Lewis beats Bottas to Portuguese GP pole with final charging run at Portuguese GP
Out of nowhere, Lewis Hamilton delivered his best lap of the weekend to topple Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas and take a sensational pole position for the returning Portuguese Grand Prix…
Mercedes reign supreme. Lewis pips Valtteri.
The reigning world champion was second-best to Bottas through all three practice sessions and the first two segments of qualifying, and was slower after the first runs in Q3 at Portuguese GP.
Mercedes changed strategy for the final runs, swapping over to the medium tyres on both cars. However, Hamilton opted to head out early to squeeze in two flying laps on that compound, while Bottas went for one.
The Finn beat Hamilton with his lap, but the Briton had one more lap in his pocket, and he made it count to take his 97th career pole position, relegating Bottas to second spot, in an all-Mercedes front row.
Max and Charles doing a very good job, holding the second row.
Max Verstappen took up his now customary position of third on the soft tyres, impressively only one-and-a-half tenths adrift of the Silver Arrows, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc delivered one of his best laps of the year to go fourth.
Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was an impressive fifth, one place ahead of Alex Albon, half a second slower than Red Bull team mate Verstappen, while Carlos Sainz won the battle of the McLarens but only just with 0.005s separating him from Lando Norris.
Pierre Gasly ended up a strong ninth, getting the better of his AlphaTauri teammate once more, with Daniel Ricciardo completing the top 10, albeit without setting a timed lap having run off track at the end of Q2.
George Russell was very impressive and managed to squeeze out of Q1, again. He did even better than Sebastian Vettel, starting P14 tomorrow. Vettel had another off day and he will be P15. It would sting more given that his team mate LeClerc is P4 in the Portuguese GP tomorrow.
Portuguese GP Quali classification
Expect a fantastic Portuguese race tomorrow as most of the teams have not much idea how their cars and the tyres will perform in the long run.
If Lewis wins the race then he will surpass Michael Schumacher with highest ever F1 races.