Lewis Hamilton on Pole for tomorrow’s 17th Portuguese GP after a stunning final flying lap to steal provisional pole from his team mate Valtteri Bottas. It’s a 97th career pole for Lewis Hamilton and 9th pole of 2020 season.
F1 officially in 7th season of Hybrid era but there is no stopping of Mercedes at the front. They have been on the pole for all 12 races so far this season along with 9 front row lock downs .
Max Verstappen took up his now customary position of Best of rest with P3 on the soft tyres, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc impressed once again with one of his best laps of the year to go fourth. It will be consecutive P4 race starts for young Monegasque.
Outgoing Mexican Sergio Perez puts his Racing Point in a impressive fifth place , ahead of Red Bull man Alex Albon, who is half a second slower than his Red Bull team mate Verstappen. Mclaren pair Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris comes home in P7 & P8 respectively, Spaniard won the battle of the McLarens by 0.005s.
Pierre Gasly ended up in strong ninth place , with Daniel Ricciardo completing the top 10, The Aussie failed to set a timed lap having run off track at the end of Q2.
Q2 – Vettel dropped out after a poor tyre choice
Mercedes pair opted for Mediums in Q2 and they topped the session Impressively, only Ferrari following suit with that strategy. Leclerc did a stunning job, to get through on that rubber, which gives him a great strategic option for Sunday’s race. His team mate Four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel failed to make it work though, the German ended up in 15th place, one place behind the Williams of George Russell.
Esteban Ocon backed out of his final lap to get knocked out in 11th, one place behind Renault team mate Daniel Ricciardo who made it through despite a spin into the gravel in the closing stages of the session. Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, returning having missed the Eifel Grand Prix with Covid 19 finished in P12 ahead of AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat in P13.
Knocked out: Ocon, Stroll, Kvyat, Russell, Vettel
Q1 –Russell delivers again for Williams
Start of Qualifying was delayed by 30 minutes as repairs were carried out on a handful of drains around the race track, After Ferrari man Vettel dislodged a drain cover during final practice session on Saturday morning.
Russell impressed with his final flyer, leaping out of the drop zone to get through in P15, 0.8s quicker than Williams team mate Nicholas Latifi. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, Haas duo Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen plus Latifi were kicked out.
Knocked out: Raikkonen, Giovinazzi, Grosjean, Magnussen, Latifi
