#PortugueseGP Qualifying Report: @LewisHamilton pips @ValtteriBottas to pole. #F1

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton pipped team-mate Valtteri Bottas to claim his 97th-career pole position in qualifying at the Portuguese GP.

Bottas held provisional pole in the initial runs by two tenths on the medium rubber but it was team-mate Hamilton who squeezed in one last flyer on the same compound to beat the Finn to snatch P1 by a tenth.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen qualified on the second row of the grid alongside Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who took fourth.

BWT Racing Point F1 Team’s Sergio Perez completed the top five and starts ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon who was sixth.

The McLaren pairing of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris qualified 7th and 8th respectively as Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo line up on the fifth row of the grid.

Ricciardo survived a late spin in Q2 after losing the back end of his R.S.20 racer and damaged the rear wing but managed to made it into Q3.

The Australian however was unable to post a lap-time as the Anglo-French alliance ran out of time replacing the rear wing.

The Mercedes duo of Bottas and Hamilton, along with Ferrari’s Leclerc progressed through to the final qualifying stage on the C2 yellow-marked mediums and will start the race on that compound tomorrow.

In the middle qualifying segment, Renault’s Esteban Ocon missed out on a Q3 appearance, qualifying in 11th and ahead of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll who took 12th.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat will start the Portuguese Grand Prix in 13th place and in-front of Williams Racing’s George Russell who was 14th and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who ended up a low 15th.

In Q1, Russell’s late improvement sent Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen out of a Q2 appearance with the Finn starting 16th.

The other Alfa Romeo Racing entry of Antonio Giovinazzi qualified 17th and ahead of Haas F1 Team pairing Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen who were 18th and 19th respectively.

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi brought up the rear.

Portuguese GP Qualifying – The Top Three

Pole Position: Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W11 EQ Power+:

“I can’t tell you how hard that was today, yes we’ve got a great car but you have to drive your nuts off here this weekend. He decided to do one [lap] and I was like okay this gives me an opportunity. I went out there nice and early, I wanted to have an extra run and it worked perfectly.”

2nd – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W11 EQ Power+:

“At the end we decided to go for the mediums as they seemed quicker. It was my decision to go for one timed [lap] as that worked in Q2. It was a decent lap, not perfect.”

3rd – Max Verstappen, #33, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16:

“It’s a bit hit and miss, I’m happy with Q3, the lap itself was decent. P3, not too far behind so a lot to play for tomorrow.”

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Grande Premio De Portugal 2020 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1056/portugal/qualifying.html

In the earlier FP3 session, Bottas completed a clean-sweep of topping all practice sessions and ahead of Mercedes team-mate Hamilton, with Verstappen taking third, Gasly fourth and Albon rounding out the top five.

In yesterday’s FP2 Practice session, it was Bottas on top of the time-sheets and in-front of Verstappen, with Norris third, Leclerc fourth and Sainz fifth.

@ValtteriBottas leads @MercedesAMG one-two in #PortugueseGP FP1. #F1

@RGrosjean and @KevinMagnussen part ways with @HaasF1Team at the end of 2020. #F1

#Formula1 Heineken #PortugueseGP 2020 Preview. #F1