Hamilton beats Schumacher’s pole record with an incredible lap
LEWIS HAMILTON drove himself further into the pages of motor-racing legend in Monza yesterday.
Hi career has featured countless fine laps, but the one conjured as rain fell in the murk of a late afternoon is worthy of the very highest consideration.
The context added lustre to the achievement. The pole lap came at the end of one of the longest qualifying sessions in history, prolonged by a 2hr 36min break for persistent rain.
That interruption called for the perfect husbanding of concentration, and Hamilton switched effortlessly from conducting a live video link with his fans and playing computer games to producing something that nobody else driving today would conceivably contemplate.
Statistics can kill any story of heroism. But they illuminate this one. Hamilton (right) was 1.1 seconds faster than the next quickest man, Red Bull’s buccaneer Max Verstappen, and 2.3sec ahead of Valtteri Bottas, who was driving in the same Mercedes machinery.
It was a fitting place to go ahead of Michael Schumacher, a Monza hero whose name was written on the red flags draped over the stands, as the most prodigious polesitter in history.
Hamilton’s decisive lap came when he was lying third on the time sheets, having abandoned his previous lap. With the last grains of sand running out of the timer, and rain still falling, he made no mistake more than three hours after the session began.
Pole achieved, he punched the air more furiously for a qualifying lap than he usually ever would. He knew this was a special drive, which once more confirmed the promise he set before us in the foothills of Mount Fuji with his first victory in the wet 11 seasons ago.
‘It is very hard to find the words to explain how I feel now,’ said Hamilton. ‘I am trying to figure it all out. To come here to this beautiful country, with typically English weather, and to be challenged was amazing to experience. It was very difficult to see out there and easy to make mistakes.
‘I gave it everything with that last lap, and it probably won’t sink in for a long time.
‘I can’t believe that so much time has passed, and so many great experiences come and gone, with a lot of difficult times too, but what a day.’
The Rain Master was quick to praise the two men sitting alongside him: Verstappen and the Dutchman’s team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo. They were two fine examples of wheat separated, by the rain, from the chaff.
Alas, because of grid penalties for engine changes, the pair will start well down the field. That ushers to the front row, Lance Stroll, an 18year-old Canadian whose form has been so erratic that on his bad days you would not trust him to drive the kids to school.
Bankrolled by his fashion billionaire father Lawrence, Stroll becomes the youngest man to crack the front row, pipping Verstappen by 23 days. Esteban Ocon, of Force India, will start third, and Bottas fourth.
Most importantly for the title race, Sebastian Vettel was only eighth quickest in his Ferrari and is now due to start sixth. He will need a slice of luck to protect his seven-point drivers’ championship lead over Hamilton today.
The action was delayed after Romain Grosjean spun off on the main straight at close to 190mph. He was not injured, but bellowed: ‘I told you it was f ****** dangerous.’
That was at 2.04pm local time and the action did not restart until 4.40pm, once various machinery had blotted the track and the rain had somewhat relented. Fans tried to keep warm under the grey skies, with ponchos and umbrellas widely deployed.
Mechanics played football on the pit straight. Ricciardo ran around with a TV camera, zooming in on the Mercedes garage. That was the light entertainment before Hamilton took centre stage.