Hamilton beats Schumacher’s pole record
Mercedes hero thrilled by ‘epic day’ as he overtakes Schumacher’s record but Lauda demands even more
Lewis Hamilton joined Formula One’s immortals last night with a record 69th pole position, lifting him clear of Michael Schumacher after a mesmeric display in the rain and murk of Monza.
Showing a genius in the wet that even his idol Ayrton Senna would have applauded, he created history with a scintillating final lap on a treacherous track, eclipsing his nearest challenger Max Verstappen by over 1.1 sec.
An emotional Hamilton dedicated his accomplishment to Schumacher, of whom little has been heard since the seven-time champion suffered irreparable brain damage in a skiing accident at Meribel. “This is for Michael and his family,” he said. “To raise the bar once more, with everything he did for the sport, is an honour.”
There is little telling how far Hamilton might yet extend the record. Only 32, he has already signalled his intention to sign another three-year deal with Mercedes after his existing contract expires at the end of 2018. “I am going to continue to expand on it,” he said. In dreadful conditions, which delayed qualifying by over 2½ hours, Hamilton proved peerless. Saving his best until last, amid teeming downpours, he extracted every ounce of grip from his Mercedes to leave the field in his wake.He will be joined on the front row for today’s Italian Grand Prix by Canadian teenager Lance Stroll.
The youngest driver ever to manage it, Stroll, just 18, qualified in fourth but leapfrogged to second after the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo both suffered grid penalties for using too many engine parts. He said, smiling: “The car felt good – so I just tossed it around.”
Niki Lauda, Mercedes’ non-executive chairman said: “Unbelievable, I have no words. Lewis can put everything together.”
Lewis Hamilton has emblazoned the No44 on his cars ever since he was a teenage karting star, but he could be tempted to swap it for 69 after breaking Michael Schumacher’s record of pole positions with a dazzling masterclass in the Monza spray.
After 2½ hours waiting for the pouring rain to dissipate, he reinforced his reputation as the one-lap wizard by making history with the most emphatic flourish, finishing 1.148sec clear of his nearest pursuer, Max Verstappen.
In a sport where a tenth is an aeon in a qualifying shoot-out, it was confirmation of Hamilton’s status as the greatest since Ayrton Senna at making a Formula One car dance in the wet. It was also a rare and precious piece of history. Only twice in the past 50 years has the poles record changed hands, but Hamilton vaulted past Schumacher with the type of statement that suggests he could be over a distant horizon by the time he is finished. In a remarkable 34 per cent of his 201 grands prix, he has started from the front.
Hamilton looked faintly overawed as he stepped out of the cockpit. “My, 69,” he said. “To do this at such a historic circuit, in Ferrari’s homeland – I can’t believe it. I am going to have some pasta to celebrate.” He had been on the ragged edge, his steering wheel threatening to jerk out of control as he rifled around the gravity-defying Parabolica, but when he saw the time he punched the air deliriously.
“It is very hard to find the words to explain how I feel,” Hamilton said.
“The weather has been incredibly tricky for us all. To come here to this beautiful country and face typically English weather was a massive challenge. It was very difficult to see the lines out there and, as always in the rain, very easy to make mistakes. But I gave it everything with that last lap. It probably won’t sink in for a long time. I have learnt so much over the years. It was an epic day, and I am truly blessed.”
Even Niki Lauda, a triple world champion and the hardest of taskmasters, was awestruck at what he had witnessed. “Unbelievable, I have no words,” he said. “It doesn’t seem to be hard when you are a driver like Lewis. He can put everything together.” There was praise, too, from Nico Rosberg, Hamilton’s sworn adversary throughout their title duel last year.
“Incredibly impressive and well-deserved,” the German said.
We could rely upon Lauda, though, to emphasise the daunting odds that confront Mercedes over the season run-in. Renowned for his bluntness as the team’s non-executive chairman, he stressed the significance of maximum points here today, conscious that Monza was perhaps the one track of the eight left that did not clearly favour Ferrari. “We have to win here, with Hamilton No1 and Bottas No2, if we really want to work for this championship,” Lauda said. “If we cannot, we then go to Singapore – where we are going to lose for sure – and the battle will be over earlier than we expect.”
Ferrari, however, were mystifyingly off the pace yesterday, with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel managing only fifth and sixth. Vettel, seven points clear of Hamilton in the championship standings, was at a loss as to why. “I was surprised by how quick the others were – we couldn’t match them,” he said. “Something didn’t work. But we have a good car, so we need not be afraid. We can still make up a lot of ground in the race, and at least you can overtake here.”
Ahead of Vettel, most unusually, will be 18-year-old Lance Stroll, who became the youngest ever driver on the front row, beating Verstappen’s record by 23 days. Just behind was Esteban Ocon, Force India’s gifted young Frenchman, who secured his highest ever position in third, after the Red Bull duo of Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo both suffered grid penalties.
Stroll, beaming at his feat while his father Lawrence high-fived the Williams mechanics, said: “I had never driven an F1 car in the wet, so I just tossed it around.”
It had been an exasperating afternoon, with an extended hiatus as stewards decided the track was unsafe. The tipping point came when Haas’ Romain Grosjean, who had complained to his engineers that he could not see amid the spray and that it was too dangerous to race, aquaplaned on the home straight and span off. Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s Rottweiler of a sporting director, was characteristically withering about the decision. “If Grosjean falls off it is no reason to stop the session, as Grosjean falls off quite often.”
Alas, stubborn F1 bureaucracy ensures there is a distorted look to today’s grid, with both Red Bulls, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz Jnr and Jolyon Palmer all forced to start at the back after their teams incurred penalties for using too many engine components. It is a ludicrous situation, with drivers penalised too harshly for factors outside their control, and Ross Brawn, in his role as Liberty Media’s all-powerful technical expert, has vowed to bring in regulations that soften sanctions.
Mercifully, Hamilton’s achievement remained unblemished. Seldom can his evening pasta at Monza, where he has now seized pole a record six times, have tasted more delicious.