Lewis Hamilton takes his 95th Pole Position ahead of the impeded Valtteri Bottas and hard charging Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc manages to qualify a strong 5th on Ferrari’s 1000th GP. However, Aston Martin bound Sebastian Vettel only managed 14th.
Q1:
The track times plummeted during the first session and Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to drop into the 1:15s. Valterri Bottas soon joined him, while Max Verstappen remained within half a second of the Mercedes. There was a usual tense ending as the cars tried to avoid elimination. Nicolas Latifi appeared to finally outqualify George Russell with a strong time. But, despite an off track excursion, Russell managed to maintain his record of never being outqualified by his team-mate. However, both Williams were eventually eliminated. Lando Norris and Sebastian Vettel managed to just make it out of Q1 on their last laps. Pierre Gasly was not as fortunate and will start the race in 16th tomorrow.
- 16th Gasly
- 17th Giovinazzi
- 18th Russell
- 19th Latifi
- 20th Magnussen
Q2:
Yet again, Mercedes took the top 2 places, but Max Verstappen placed 3rd, only 0.1s behind. It was mixed fortunes for Ferrari as Leclerc comfortably made Q3, but Sebastian Vettel was eliminated. To make matters worse, he was outqualified by Kimi Raikkonen, who was also eliminated. Lando Norris was one of 4 drivers to make every Q3 session this season, but failed to continue his record. He was just pushed out by Carlos Sainz, but will have free tyre choice for tomorrow’s race. Kvyat and Grosjean were the remaining drivers to be eliminated, the Russian’s last lap was hampered as he fell off the track.
Eliminated:
- 11th Norris
- 12th Kvyat
- 13th Raikkonen
- 14th Vettel
- 15th Grosjean
Q3:
All eyes were on Max Verstappen, this had been his best opportunity so far to take pole away from the dominant Mercedes. The first runs saw Mercedes and Redbull running in formation, Lewis Hamilton winning out against Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen besting Alexander Albon.
However, as the cars started their final laps, Esteban Ocon spun in sector 1 and stopped, bringing out the yellow flags. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen escaped hindrance, but Valtteri Bottas was not able to set a second time. Hamilton failed to improve his second time, but didn’t face a challenge. Verstappen will again start 3rd, but is within touching distance for tomorrow’s race. Charles Leclerc had a supreme drive and finished 5th, a result the team would have been dreaming of coming into the weekend. The Racing Points finished in formation, but Sergio Perez managed to outqualify Lance Stroll, despite not receiving the upgrade his team-mate did. Daniel Ricciardo edged out Carlos Sainz, and Ocon failed to set a time.
- Hamilton
- Bottas
- Verstappen
- Albon
- Leclerc
- Perez
- Stroll
- Ricciardo
- Sainz
- Ocon
Lewis Hamilton takes his 95th pole position and is looking strong for tomorrow. Valtteri Bottas will need a strong start to avoid a repeat of last week, while Max Verstappen will be looking to capitalise on the performance of his Red Bull.
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
