Hartley stuns in qualifying run
Kiwi Brendon Hartley will start the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix from a career-best sixth place after a stunning qualifying performance last night.
The Le Mans winner outperformed his Toro Rosso teammate Pierre Gasly and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel at his engine supplier Honda’s home event, much to the delight of the Japanese fans.
The Kiwi was sensational in a rain-affected final qualifying session, pipping Gasly, who qualified seventh.
Hartley completed his best lap of the Suzuka Circuit in 1:30.023.
His previous best effort came at July’s Hungarian Grand Prix, where he started from eighth on the grid.
Hartley finished 11th in the race on that occasion, unable to better the 10th-place finishes he had at the Azerbaijan and German Grands Prix this year.
It is a welcome piece of success for the New Zealander, who has struggled to find strong results this season.
Not only did he secure his best qualifying result since moving up to Formula 1 but he also upstaged the talented Gasly, who recently signed to be a full-time driver with parent team Red Bull next season.
“It felt awesome to finish P6,” Hartley said. “I actually felt a bit emotional on the in-lap — probably a build-up of emotion over the past few months when things haven’t gone my way but also the fact we have so much support — not just from the Japanese fans but from Honda fans.
“It feels like a big reward to all the people at Honda that brought this upgrade, which helped us, and to everyone at the team that has worked hard.
“We can enjoy sixth and seventh but the big job is tomorrow.”
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton will start from pole alongside his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas after they made the right decision to get out early in Q3 and set a fast early lap — as rain impacted on the Ferrari pair of Vettel and Raikkonen later in the session.
Both had a chance early but failed to put down a fast lap.
Hamilton has a record-extending 80th career pole position with Mercedes locking out the front row while Ferrari title rival Vettel qualified only ninth.
Bottas joined Hamilton on the front row, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third and Raikkonen in fourth.
Rain in the final phase of the session came at the wrong time for Vettel, who is 50 championship points behind Hamilton with only five races remaining.
Ninth will be the German’s lowest starting position so far this season.
Earlier, Hamilton completed a practice clean sweep, setting the pace in the final hour of track action before qualifying.
The Briton, who had dominated Friday’s opening day of practice, lapped the 5.8km long Suzuka circuit in one minute, 29.599 seconds yesterday in a session that saw an early drizzle and gusty winds.
Vettel was second fastest for Ferrari, after he had been nearly a second adrift of his rival’s best on Friday.
He managed to close that gap to 0.116 seconds yesterday.
Raikkonen followed Vettel in third ahead of Verstappen and Bottas of Mercedes, who was 0.823 seconds Hamilton’s pace.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo was sixth for Red Bull ahead of Esteban Ocon, who swept “best of the rest” honours for the third successive session in his Force India. news.com.au