Lewis Hamilton one step closer to making history as he qualifies on pole ahead of the 2020 F1 Portuguese Grand Prix

A 97th pole position for Lewis Hamilton sees the Championship leader one step closer to breaking the record of all-time wins. Valtteri Bottas completed a front-row lockout in second and Max Verstappen qualified third.

Q1

The F1 drivers return to Portugal for the first time since 1996 as Damon Hill qualified on pole for that race, but it was his Williams-Renault teammate Jacques Villeneuve that won the race.

The qualifying session got underway after a 30-minute delay due to drain coverage checks were made for the safety of the cars and the drivers.

The green light shone at the end of the pit-lane and the drivers came out onto the Portimao circuit. Daniil Kvyat was the first driver out as he was followed by a pack of 11 cars.

The AlphaTauri set a time of 1:18.008, but his time was eclipsed by the Racing Point of Sergio Perez with a 1:18 flat.

Valtteri Bottas, who led every single practice session, set a time that was half a second faster than Perez as the Mercedes driver put himself into first.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton, who looks to break the all-time record for race wins, encountered traffic on his flying-lap and backed off on his first try. On his second go, he got as close as five-hundredths behind his teammate.

Five minutes remained in the session, Hamilton jumped Bottas into first by one-tenth and Max Verstappen also jumped the Finn by five-hundredths and into second with Bottas in third.

Kimi Raikkonen, Antonio Giovinazzi, Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen and Nicholas Latifi were knocked out of Q1 as George Russell managed to carry on being the Saturday man.

Out in front, it stayed the same with Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.

Q2

The drivers dashed out of the pit-lane as the pit-lane opened. The pairing of Racing Point lead the pack out onto the track for the second qualifying session.

Lance Stroll set the target of 1:17.626 which Perez beat by four-tenths and then Bottas setting a time of 1:16.466, six-tenths faster than Perez.

Hamilton looked to go again on another run similarly like he did in Q1. This time he was blocked by Sebastian Vettel and on his second run, the Championship leader was three-tenths slower than Bottas.

With five minutes to go in the session, out in front was Bottas then Hamilton with Verstappen in P3. Drivers at risk were Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Daniil Kvyat, Sebastian Vettel and George Russell.

Daniel Ricciardo spun off the track at Turn 11 as the Australian went a little bit wide but stayed tenth and into Q2.

Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Daniil Kvyat, George Russell and Sebastian Vettel were knocked out of Q2. The German has not qualified for Q3 for the last eight races (that’s the first time that has happened in his career!)

Q3

The Mercedes pair led the drivers out of the pit-lane. They were followed by the Red Bull pair and Charles Leclerc.

1:16.986 was the time set by Bottas which Hamilton was not able to beat, but go four-hundredths slower than his teammate.

A tenth separated the top three as the other seven drivers were around half a second slower than the top three of Bottas, Hamilton and Verstappen.

Hamilton went on provisional pole after his lap on the medium tyres was around five-hundredths faster that Bottas’ time.

Bottas then fought back and took back the pole from Hamilton with a time that was two-tenths faster than his teammate.

The Championship leader took his 97th pole position of his career as the Brit pulled it out the bag yet another time.

Final Grid For The Race

Another front-row lockout from the Mercedes pair saw Lewis Hamilton pip Valtteri Bottas by two tenths of a second as Max Verstappen will start in P3, Charles Leclerc qualified a fantastic fourth for Ferrari as Sergio Perez lined up in fifth. Alex Albon qualified on the third-row in sixth as Carlos Sainz out qualified Lando Norris with the McLaren’s lining up in seventh and eighth Pierre Gasly qualified ninth for AlphaTauri and Daniel Ricciardo didn’t get a run in Q3 which left him in tenth.

Esteban Ocon was P11, Lance Stroll in P12, Daniil Kvyat in P13, George Russell in P14 and Sebastian Vettel in P15. The Alfa Romeo pairing of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi qualified P16 and P17 ahead of the Haas pair of Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen in P18 and P19 as Nicholas Latifi qualified slowest and in P20.

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