#PortugueseGP Qualifying: @ValtteriBottas clinches pole position by 0.007s. #F1

Valtteri Bottas denied Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton of his 100th-career pole position by 0.007 seconds in qualifying at the Portuguese GP as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen takes third.

F1’s top two outfits went for different strategies for their final flying laps in the final segment, with the Mercedes duo emerging on the medium compounds, which they had dominated in the second qualifying stage, and used to top qualifying at last season’s Portuguese GP, whilst Verstappen remained with softs throughout.

But the tyre switch for the Silver Arrows drivers did not work for either of them, as Bottas’ 1:18.348, which was set on the initial Q3 flyers on the softs ended up being the pole position time.

Both Bottas and Hamilton were unable to improve on their final hot laps, which meant the Finn’s 0.007 second advantage from his C3 softer compounds gave him his maiden pole of 2021.

Verstappen lost his Q3 time saving a snap of over-steer to the right as the Red Bull driver ran through turn four and beyond the track limits down the back-straight and put himself under-pressure for the final flyers.

The Dutchman only done a single warm-up lap on the difficult low-grip surface compared to the two most of the other drivers completed.

Despite having to make his way through traffic on what would be his only Q3 flying lap, Verstappen reached third place and ended up 0.398 seconds adrift of Bottas’ Portuguese GP pole benchmark.

Behind the leading drivers was Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez who was fourth and in-front of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who rounded out the top five – and out-qualified team-mate Charles Leclerc for the first time this year.

Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon qualified in sixth place ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris who was seventh and Leclerc, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly taking ninth.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, who made his first Q3 appearance since last season’s British Grand Prix, completed the top ten.

In Q2, the Mercedes and Red Bull pairings made it through on the medium tyres as it has become typical to start on the preferred rubber for the opening stint of the Grand Prix, but here they were joined by Leclerc.

Both Ferrari’s started Q2 on the C2 yellow-marked medium rubber, but whilst Sainz swapped to the softs to ease his way into Q3, Leclerc conserved with the harder rubber and did enough to progress with a personal best effort on his second flying run on the same set at the end of Q2.

Behind the top 10, Williams Racing’s George Russell qualified in an impressive 11th, wounding up 0.057 seconds adrift of Gasly’s P10 time in the middle segment – crossing the line as the last of the runners posting flyers in the second stage,

Behind the Briton was Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi, in-front of Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda – the trio all completing personal best efforts on their last hot laps but still ended up eliminated.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen could not improve on his final flyer and wound up 15th.

In the first qualifying stage, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo suffered a shock elimination in-front of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, with Norris putting the other MCL35M second in Q1, which featured Alonso suffering a spin exiting the penultimate corner and Perez lost the rear of his RB16B racer running through the fourth corner and spinning through the gravel on the exit.

But it was Ocon’s last improvement to fourth place that saw the Australian knocked out in the opening segment.

At the back, it was Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi who qualified in 18th and ahead of Haas F1 Team pairing Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin who brought up the rear.

Portuguese GP Qualifying – The Top Three

Pole Position – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W12 EQ Performance:

“It is a good feeling today to be on pole. It’s been a weak point for me in the first two races, getting the tyres to work but we’ve been working hard. The whole weekend I’ve been feeling better with the mediums, but the wind picked up on the last run. Starting on the medium tyre, we can run as long as we want in the first stint.”

2nd Place – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W12 EQ Performance:

“Great job by Valtteri, great job by the team, got to be happy with that. I don’t think you can ever be satisfied, we exist to perform…”

3rd Place – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B:

“I was struggling a lot with grip. The car in front disturbed me, and cost me a lot of lap time.”

You can read the full Formula 1 Heineken Grande Premio De Portugal 2021 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1066/portugal/qualifying.html

In the earlier FP3 session, Verstappen was quickest on the time-sheets ahead of Mercedes pairing Hamilton and Bottas who were second and third respectively, with Red Bull team-mate Perez fourth and Alpine’s Ocon rounding out the top five. You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Grande Premio De Portugal 2021 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1066/portugal/practice-3.html

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