Hamilton takes pole in Portugal ahead of Bottas
Brit can overtake Schumacher record
Lewis Hamilton continued to dominate in his quest to be crowned Formula One’s most victorious driver as he will start from pole position after he edged out Valtteri Bottas in qualifying for the Portuguese Grand Prix.
Hamilton drew level with Michael Schumacher on 91 wins at the Eifel Grand Prix in Germany earlier this month.
And the world champion will now start as the favourite to make history here in the Algarve today after seeing off Mercedes team-mate Bottas’ challenge by just 0.102 seconds with his final lap of a nail-biting session.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will line up from third, one place ahead of Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.
The running on F1’s first jaunt back to Portugal in 24 years was delayed by 30 minutes following repair work to a dislodged drain cover on the exit of the penultimate corner.
Track marshals laid down fresh tarmac to keep the loose metal in place, and scoured the 2.89 miles of track for additional ill-fitting drains.
But when the action eventually started, it looked as though it would be Bottas who would carry over his fine practice form to secure his second pole in as many races.
The Finnish driver headed into qualifying with a practice clean sweep under his belt, but Hamilton executed a different strategy in Q3 by completing one extra lap than his team-mate, and taking pole.
“I cannot tell you how hard that was today ,” said Hamilton after securing his 97th career pole. “We have got a great car but you have to drive the wheels off it to pull out a lap.
“I have just been digging and digging to find that extra time. I did three laps to give me a stab in the final session at beating Valtteri’s time.
“He decided to do one and it provided me with an opportunity and it worked. That last lap just got better and better.”
Bottas admitted: “I went for one lap ( on mediums), it was my decision as it worked well in Q2. But it might be that doing the two timed laps like Lewis was better.”
Verstappen briefly held a front- row position but was shuffled back to a more familiar third, although his 0.252s deficit to pole means Red Bull have again closed the gap on a Saturday to Mercedes.
T he same is t r ue for Fe r ra r i , as the in-form Leclerc impressively got within half a second to take fourth on the grid for the second successive grand prix.
Sergio Perez was a strong fifth for Racing Point ahead of Alex Albon, who lapped nearly 0.5s slower than teammate Verstappen in Q3, with two cars between them.
George Russell’s future has been the source of much speculation here after it emerged that he could be replaced by Perez at Williams next year. Williams have recently been acquired by Dorilton and the belief is that they want drivers who bring cash to the British team, putting Russell’s 2021 seat in danger.
Here, the 22- year- old Mercedes junior delivered another fine one-lap performance to extend his undefeated qualifying streak over his team-mates – Robert Kubica in 2019 and Nicholas Latifi this year – to 33.
Russell sealed his passage through to Q2, lapping a full second faster than his team- mate, before finishing 14 th, one spot ahead off our time world champion Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari.
The sooner Vettel leaves Ferrari the better for both parties. The German, who will head to Aston Martin next season, starts today’s race 13th in the championship, a staggering 213 points behind Hamilton.