Team-mate gatecrashes Hamilton’s pole party

LEWIS HAMILTON was denied his 100th pole position by Mercedes team-mate Va lt teri Bot t as ahead of today’s Portuguese Grand Prix – as a ruffled Max Verstappen aimed a foul- mouthed rant at British driver Lando Norris.

Bottas secured his first pole of the season after beating Hamilton to top spot by just seven thousandths of a second in Portimao, with Verstappen only third.

Verstappen, who heads into the race trailing Hamilton by one point, was furious with Norris for getting in the way of his one shot at pole. The Dutchman’s first effort in Q3 was deleted after he made a mistake at the left-handed fourth corner and exceeded track limits.

As he geared up for his final run, Norris, ahead of him on the track but not on a quick lap, was told by his McLaren race engineer, Will Joseph: “Don’t do him [Verstappen] any favours because he doesn’t have a time yet.”

Verstappen was forced to pass Norris, and the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel, before crossing the line a disappointing third, almost four tenths behind Bottas.

“F*** sake,” the Dutchman fumed over the radio. “Why do these guys not move? I am on a fast lap. They are f****** d*******s.”

Responding, Norris, who qualified seventh, said: “I don’t know what I did wrong. When I let him pass I was on the opposite side of the track, in second gear and as slow as I can go. I tried my best to get out of his way. I didn’t block him or anything like that.”

The result leaves Verstappen facing an uphill battle to claim back-to-back wins following his masterclass at a rain-hit Imola a fortnight ago, particularly with not one but two black machines in his way.

Hamilton headed into qualifying in search of a century of poles but his wait will go on after Bottas spoilt the world champion’s party.

Hamilton finished his first run behind his team-mate. Ahead of his final attempt he ditched the softest rubber for the medium tyre, but the Briton was unable to improve.

“It was a difficult session,” the seven-time world champion said. “It is not that easy here because it is windy and slippery on this surface. It was a messy session for me. Q1 wasn’t good, Q2, I had one good lap, and Q 3 was pretty poor too.

“It probably wasn’t the right decision to take the mediums but it was just tricky. The tyres are too hard here, they don’t work very well with the surface so we have to do extra laps to get the temperature into them, and at the end I didn’t have great grip so I couldn’t do the greatest job.”