Hamilton takes pole for Azerbaijan GP in Mercedes 1-2

BAKU, Azerbaijan: Lewis Hamilton took a brilliant pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of Valtteri Bottas on Saturday, with Mercedes securing a convincing 1-2 as rival Ferrari lagged behind.

Bottas led qualifying and then set an even quicker time on his final lap — only for Hamilton to beat him by nearly half a second.

“There was a lot of pressure with a minute left. It was all or nothing,” Hamilton said. “That was one of the most exciting laps I’ve had all year. I’m so pumped, that’s how qualifying should be.”

The British driver’s 66th pole moves him one ahead of Formula One great Ayrton Senna and just two behind Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 68.

“I thought the hunger might drop off after I matched him (Senna),” Hamilton said. “But I was hungrier than ever today.”

Kimi Raikkonen was more than one second behind Hamilton, qualifying third ahead of his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel, the championship leader.

After his impressive pole at the Canadian GP two weeks ago, it was another commanding performance from Hamilton as he took his fifth pole in seven races this season.

“My last lap in Montreal was pretty special but I think this one topped it,” the three-time F1 champion said.

After three difficult practice sessions, qualifying also proved tough — with Turns 2, 6 and 8 causing most problems. There were close calls for Bottas and Vettel while Force India’s Sergio Perez shaved the barriers on the demanding street circuit.

With three minutes remaining a red flag came up, halting the session, after Daniel Ricciardo clipped the wall with the left side of his Red Bull coming out of Turn 6 — prompting an expletive from the Australian driver.

Ricciardo’s teammate, Max Verstappen, qualified fifth ahead of Perez. But it was disappointing for the 19-year-old Verstappen, considering he topped both of Friday’s practice sessions.

Bottas, meanwhile, was disappointed not to secure his second career pole.

“I wasn’t quite comfortable with the tire temperature,” said Bottas, who took pole at the Bahrain GP in April. “Just didn’t get them to work as well as Lewis.”

It was also a sweet moment for Hamilton’s mechanics, considering how difficult Friday’s practice had been.

“Yesterday we were at a bit of a loss and we had to make a lot of changes overnight,” said Hamilton, who was 10th in P2. “This morning, we didn’t know if those changes were going to be right or not. But the guys did excellent work.”