Lewis Hamilton qualifies on pole for a 95th time ahead of the 2020 F1 Tuscan Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton took the first-ever Tuscan Grand Prix pole position as Mercedes lockout the front row.

Q1

The Mugello Circuit has been opened since 1974 and for the first time in the F1 Championship, the drivers were able to go around the Circuit in the middle of the Tuscan Hills.

The green light appeared at the end of the pit-lane with George Russell being the first driver out of the pits alongside his teammate Nicholas Latifi.

Russell set the first time of the session with a 1:18.024, but his teammate pipped the Brit by one-tenth.

Stroll eclipsed Latifi’s time by 1.2 seconds with a time of 1:16.701 and he would continue to top the timings after teammate Sergie Perez picked up a time which was three-tenths slower.

The two Mercedes drivers then set their competitive times. It was a 1:15.749 for Valtteri Bottas with Lewis Hamilton three-hundredths behind the Finn. Max Verstappen was only able to get half a second close to the Mercedes drivers which put him third with five minutes remaining in the session.

The drivers that were eliminated from Q1 were Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly, Antonio Giovinazzi, the Williams pair of Russell and Latifi and Kevin Magnussen.

The Mercedes pair of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton topped off another qualifying session with Max Verstappen was behind in third.

Q2

Hamilton and Bottas were the two drivers out of the pit with the Racing Point pair, Ferrari pair, Red Bull pair and Esteban Ocon following the Silver Arrows.

The Brit set a 1:15.309 moving ahead of Bottas, who was 0.013s slower than Hamilton. Verstappen then picked up a time two-tenths slower than the Championship leader.

One second covered the top seven, with the Mercedes and Red Bull teams occupying the top four.

The drivers improved but not enough. Carlos Sainz was able to get ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris who now lead the qualifying battle 5-4.

Norris was knocked out of qualifying for the first team of his career, Daniil Kvyat, Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosejan were knocked out at Q2. Hamilton topped the timings ahead of Bottas and Verstappen.

Q3

The top ten shootout got underway as Sainz was followed by out Lance Stroll. Sainz set two slow sector times, crossing the line with a 1:17.870. It allowed Stroll to get ahead of the McLaren driver, beating Sainz’s time by 1.5 seconds.

The Mercedes breezed to the top of the timings by 1.2 seconds ahead of Racing Point, with Hamilton on provisional pole, being an all-mighty close six-hundredths of a second quicker than Bottas. Verstappen put his car into third, four-tenths behind the Mercedes.

The yellow flags were waved due as Esteban Ocon stopped on the circuit, which guaranteed Hamiliton’s place on pole for tomorrow’s Grand Prix

Final Grid For The Race

Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole position for a 95th time, with Bottas in second. The Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Alex Albon qualified on the second row, Charles Leclerc qualified an impressive fifth for Ferrari’s 1000th Grand Prix. Lance Stroll qualified sixth with Sergio Perez in seventh after a one-place grid penalty. Daniel Ricciardo was in eighth, Carlos Sainz in ninth and Esteban Ocon rounded off the top ten.

Lando Norris finished outside the top ten for the first time in 15 races as the McLaren driver qualified in P11 alongside Daniil Kvyat in P12. Kimi Raikkonen in P13, Sebastian Vettel in P14 and Romain Grosejan in P15. Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly was only able to get his car in P16 with Antonio Giovinazzi qualifying in P17. The Williams pair of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi qualified in P18 and P19 respectively and Kevin Magnussen qualified at the back of the grid.

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