QUALIFIER OF THE YEAR

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes

George Russell ran Lewis Hamilton extremely close in this category, and Russell’s consistently excellent efforts in dragging the Williams FW43 into Q2 were absolutely worthy of taking this prize, but those at the front naturally grab the limelight and Hamilton’s record of 10 poles from 16 attempts – including eight of the first 10 – was difficult to ignore.

And within that sample set were some truly outstanding performances. After a slightly sub-par showing at the season opener in Austria, Hamilton responded with a brilliant qualifying lap for the Styrian GP at the same circuit. The Red Bull Ring is a short circuit, but Hamilton was over 1.2 seconds faster than anyone else in the wet.

“I love days like that,” he reflected. “Because it’s literally all about feel and less about set-up or tyre temperatures, those sort of things – more basic, more standard.”

But Hamilton doesn’t only rely on improvisation to obliterate his opposition. Perhaps there’s no better example of his ability to fine tune his way to a dominant position than at Spa, where the work he did in the background this season to finesse his driving technique on the Pirelli tyres culminated in a sublime pole position lap, half a second faster than Valtteri Bottas in the same car.

“On one side, you could say it’s because we’ve got the same tyres again, so my understanding just continues to evolve in terms of how you utilise those,” Hamilton says of his improved qualifying form. “As the years go on, I have been able to invest more in understanding the car, understanding the technical side, understanding the set-up.

“On the weekend there are so many things to change and you can easily miss things. You’re trying to make really quick decisions. This year, I have been a lot more efficient with that.”

“Qualifying is all about delivering that one special lap at the right time and that wasn’t easy in 2020. We went to a lot of completely new circuits and tracks we hadn’t been to in a long time, so I really had to be on top of my game. Valtteri was very strong and you could see how close it was on most Saturdays, but I’m happy I managed to stay ahead.”

Lewis Hamilton