Valtteri Bottas snatches pole in Portugal and denies Lewis Hamilton from hitting a century of F1 poles

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The Finn clinched his 17th Formula 1 pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session. Bottas will line up with a clear view into turn one at the start of Sunday’s 2021 F1 Portuguese Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas will be partnered on the front row by his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who missed out on pole by seven thousandths of a second, which is the first time that Mercedes have locked out the front row this season.

The duo qualified ahead of both Red Bull drivers who lock out the second row. Max Verstappen pipped his Mexican teammate Sergio Perez by just over a tenth of a second.

Q1

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First out on track were both Haas drivers, followed by the majority of the midfield runners.

With 13 minutes left on the clock, a flurry of early banker times were set. Carlos Sainz was top of the timesheets in the early stages of the first qualifying session with Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas both within one-hundredth of the Spaniard.

At the end of the first run, Bottas leapfrogged Verstappen and Sainz as he put himself on top with a time of 1:19.205 – a time that was five-tenths slower than his teammate’s time that was deleted moments earlier due to exceeding track limits at turn one.

Sergio Perez was a victim of the wild and windy conditions, which reached 17kph in some places, as he lost control of his Red Bull at turn four which sent him facing the wrong way and rolling into the gravel trap.

Lando Norris found himself at the summit of the timesheet with two minutes left of the session, however as the flag was shown, Bottas went quickest with a time of 1:18.722.

Williams’ George Russell continued his fine form in qualifying as he advanced into Q2 by the skin of his teeth, knocking out Daniel Ricciardo by two-hundredths.

Topping the timesheet at the end of Q1 was Bottas ahead of two Brits Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton in third, narrowly ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and early pacesetter Carlos Sainz. Eliminated in Q1 was Ricciardo, Lance Stroll, Nicholas Latifi, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Q2

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In Q2, it was the Ferrari’s with the early pace once again as the Italian outfit occupied first and second with 11 minutes to go.

Hamilton was quick to assert his pace as he was the first driver to break into the 1:17’s during the session, subsequently sitting pretty at the summit of the session ahead of his teammate Bottas – both Mercedes drivers’ quickest times were set on medium tyres.

Another driver who set a time on mediums was Verstappen. The Dutchman finished Q2 in fifth, sealing his place in the pole shootout Q3 session.

Knocked out in Q2 was Russell (who agonisingly missed out on Q3 by 0.057 seconds), Antonio Giovenazzi, Fernando Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda and Kimi Raikkonen, whose final run was interrupted by traffic much to the Iceman’s fury.

Q3

From the off, it was Bottas on provisional pole, just seven-thousandths of a second ahead of Hamilton. The Mercedes duo on top once again and half a second ahead of Perez.

Verstappen did get himself into the top three, however had the lap time deleted due to an infringement of the track limits on the exit of turn four, after having a small tank-slapper but the Dutchman managed to keep his car in line.

In an unusually quiet Q3 session, saw Verstappen knock his teammate out of the top three. His time just under four-tenths behind Bottas’ pole time.

In the end, it was Valtteri Bottas who claimed his 17th pole position in F1, ahead of teammate Hamilton, who was denied the chance to score a historic century of pole positions. The Finn will be hoping this is the start of a positive weekend, wanting to make amends for his disastrous showing in Imola last time out.

Mercedes locked out the front row ahead of both Red Bull cars who locked out the second row of the grid. Ferrari’s Sainz qualified on the third row of the starting grid alongside Esteban Ocon with Norris in seventh, Leclerc in eighth, Pierre Gasly in ninth and Sebastian Vettel rounding off the top 10 ahead of tomorrow’s Portuguese Grand Prix.

What’s Next?

Saturday’s qualifying gives the platform for Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix to be a fantastic race.

Max Verstappen will be hoping to snatch the Championship lead off Lewis Hamilton. Both drivers will be starting on the medium compound tyre, which half of the top 10 will be starting on tomorrow, which gives tomorrow’s race the chance to be as entertaining as last year’s race.

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