Hamilton Gets Pole in Portugal
Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes won the pole position for the Portuguese Grand Prix in Portimao. Lewis stole the 1st place from his teammate Valtteri Bottas at the very end of the session, placing some 0.102 seconds ahead of Bottas. Although Max Verstappen with Red Bull challenged the two Mercedes drivers for the pole, he could only in P3. Still, not a bad result for the young Dutch.
Charles Leclerc managed to utilize Ferrari’s improvements to the car, bringing himself to a 2nd row for tomorrow’s starting grid. Sergio Perez with Racing Point qualified 5th, ahead of Red Bull’s Alex Albon in P6. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris placed 7th and 8th, followed by Pierre Gasly in P9. Daniel Ricciardo was the only driver to not come out during the entire session. The Renault driver had a minor accident and contact with the wall towards the end of Q2, which damaged the rear of the car. Apparently, the problems were serious enough to prevent him from competing in Q3.
Esteban Ocon with Renault was the first of the drivers to miss on the participation in Q3. Right behind him, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll qualified 12th, ahead of Pierre Gasly in P13 for Alpha Tauri. George Russell did his best today and finished in P14 for Williams. Surprisingly, Sebastian Vettel with Ferrari struggled to beat anyone’s lap time during this session, including Russell’s. Therefore, Vettel would have to “satisfy” himself with the 15th starting position for tomorrow’s Portuguese Grand Prix. Not a particularly optimistic result for the Scuderia, especially following the big improvements to the car.
Aside from light track repair that caused a 30-minute delay, the first qualifying session did not bring any surprises. While drivers kept on improving their lap times until the very last second, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi became the first to be eliminated in this session in P16 and P17. Behind them, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished 18th and 19th for Haas. Nicholas Latifi with Williams qualified last today in P20.
Pole position lap: Lewis Hamilton – 1:16.652.
You can find the official qualifying results by clicking on this LINK.
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