Mercedes dominance continues as Valtteri Bottas takes his second pole of 2020. Meanwhile stand-in Nico Hulkenberg managed to qualify a superb 3rd, ahead of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.
Qualifying 1:
The cars took to the grid with a mixture of the soft and hard tyre compound tyre. Nico Hulkenberg rose to the top of the standings early on, able to manage a lap on the fragile soft tyre. The misery of Ferrari continued with both cars failing to match the ‘Pink Mercedes’, and struggling throughout the session. Max Verstappen appeared to edge out the Mercedes, but they took back control a few laps later. George Russell almost collided with the back of Esteban Ocon after the Frenchman was slow out of turn 4. This was immediately placed under investigation. It was tense toward the end of the session as Alex Albon, Sebastian Vettel and George Russell just made it through to Q2. However, Daniil Kvyat had his solid lap time deleted and this demoted him to 16th. The Russian was furious, his anger visible through the onboard camera.
Eliminated:
- 16th Kvyat
- 17th Magnussen
- 18th Latfi
- 19th Giovinazzi
- 20th Raikkonen
Qualifying 2:
The most anticipated part of the session started with many cars hustling around the track. Each team appeared to have it’s own strategy ideas with all compounds making an appearance early on. Nico Hulkenberg had a huge moment out of Becketts, the floor scraping across the newly extended curb. Yet again, the Mercedes leapt to the top, while the rest of the grid was anyone’s guess. Every car went out at the tail end of Q2 with George Russell first to come out, but his time on the soft tyre wasn’t enough to break into the top 10. Hulkenberg managed a stunning lap to take him to 2nd. Pierre Gasly also impressed, finishing 4th, while Sebastian Vettel’s torrid time continued. His Ferrari dropped out in Q2, qualifying a woeful 12th.
Eliminated:
- 11th Ocon
- 12th Vettel
- 13th Sainz
- 14th Grosjean
- 15th Russell
Qualifying 3
The first round of lap times showed the level of the Mercedes dominance as their times were over a second clear of the next constructor. Lewis Hamilton took provisional pole, but Valtteri Bottas was within touching distance. There were a few surprises as Daniel Ricciardo managed to go 3rd fastest while Nico Hulkenberg took 4th. Max Verstappen was unable to make an impression and took the 5th fastest time, 3 tenths and one place ahead of his team-mate.
As the cars made their final runs, Lewis Hamilton was able to improve but Valtteri Bottas was faster still, taking pole away from championship leader by a very small margin. Nico Hulkenberg managed a superb 3rd position leapfrogging Daniel Ricciardo on his last flying lap. This places Lance Stroll under scrutiny as he only managed 6th. Max Verstappen improved to 4th but Alex Albon dropped to 9th, a sobering comparison. Pierre Gasly managed to qualify a solid 7th, one place ahead of Charles Leclerc and his struggling Ferrari. Lando Norris rounded out the grid with a rather disappointing 10th.
While it is obvious that the Mercedes will take the victory barring any drama, the battle for third has become no clearer. Nico Hulkenberg holds the record for most races without a podium (177), will he finally break the deadlock? A fairy tale scenario for the substitute driver, however, “anything can happen in Formula 1 and it usually does!” – Murray Walker
Results
- Bottas
- Hamilton
- Hulkenberg
- Verstappen
- Ricciardo
- Stroll
- Gasly
- Leclerc
- Albon
- Norris
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter Account
