#QatarGP Qualifying: @LewisHamilton storms to pole position. #F1
Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12 EQ Performance, Free Practice 2, Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix 2021, Losail International Circuit, Lusail, North Doha, Qatar. Image credit to Sutton Images. Hamilton Qatar GP pole, 2021 Qatar GP Qualifying.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton stormed to pole position in qualifying at the Qatar GP ahead of title-rival Max Verstappen who was second for Red Bull and team-mate Valtteri Bottas who qualified third in the other Silver Arrow.
Hamilton lead the initial proceedings with a 1:21.262, with Verstappen edging out Bottas, but with still 0.162 to make up in his attempt to take pole.
But Hamilton, who ran at the front of the pack for the final hot-laps, put pole position beyond reach on his last flyer, as he romped sector one by over 0.3 seconds.
The Briton held his advantage as he completed his tour, posting a 1:20.827 – the only driver to hit the 1:20’s bracket as he claimed his 102nd-career pole and the first at the Losail International Circuit.
Behind Hamilton on the circuit at the end, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly ran very wide at the 90-degree right hand penultimate turn 15 corner, as the AT02 racer bounced over the raised kerbs where it’s front wing and front-left tyre exploded.
Gasly continued on around the last corner, which meant yellow flags were briefly waved, but they were in before Bottas and Verstappen came around behind the Frenchman.
The former could not improve on his Q3 personal best and remained third, whilst Verstappen was able to go quicker, but not by enough as the Red Bull driver ended up 0.651 seconds off Hamilton’s benchmark.
The front three will start Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix on the C2 yellow-marked compounds after getting through on that rubber, along with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Gasly held fourth and ahead of Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso who completed the top five despite aborting his final flyer.
McLaren’s Lando Norris got a personal best on his flying tour to qualify in-front of Sainz, with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda eighth, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon ninth and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel rounding out the top ten.
In the second qualifying stage, Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez was a shock eliminatee in Q2, ending up 11th after abandoning plans to progress on the medium, but his 1:22.346 on the C3 red-marked softs was not enough to beat Sainz’s benchmark on the mediums.
The Mexican was ahead of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin in 12th place and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who qualified 13th with the latter confused at his lack of pace during the second stage.
He was the slowest of the top 15 after the opening flying laps with most cars running the mediums and although he improved after putting on the softs, it was only good enough for 13th.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo ended the session in 14th after a similar story as Leclerc and in-front of Williams Racing’s George Russell who was the slowest of the second segment in 15th and ran an off-set run in Q2, posting his final lap whilst the others were in the pits.
In the first qualifying segment, Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi were 16th and 18th respectively as Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi split the pairing in 17th.
Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin brought up the rear with the latter’s trouble still continuing in the first segment with his FP2 absence for a new chassis and the FP3 red flag caused by an ECU problem were followed by his front wing hanging on a funny angle during the early proceedings.
It meant he needed to pit for a new one, the first wing was dragging along the floor by it’s end-plates due to the drop, and Mazepin eventually wound up last with an effort over two seconds slower than team-mate Schumacher.
You can see the full Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix 2021 Qualifying Results Classification here at the link: https://www.skysports.com/f1/grandprix/qatar/results/2021/grid
2021 Qatar GP Qualifying – The Top Three
2021 Qatar GP Pole Position – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12 EQ Performance, 1:20.827:
“Yesterday was a really difficult day for me, I really struggled throughout practice. I was here until midnight working with the engineers. Found a lot of areas I could improve. Made some changes which seemed to work, I’m so grateful for the timings that put us out without traffic. That last lap was just beautiful.”
2nd Place – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, +0.455:
“Lacking pace. Checo isn’t even in Q3 so shows we are struggling a bit more than normal. Still second, so still all to play for. There’s a lot of unknowns, we just need to work on our start and see where we end up.”
3rd Place – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12 EQ Performance,+0.651:
“It’s been a good weekend so far until qualifying for me. In FP3 the wind was different, I really had to push a lot. In quali I struggled in Turn 1, struggled to get the tyres ready. I tried my best, have to have a look. I hope the grip is going to be good on the clean side for me and Lewis. We’ve got two cars against Max, so hopefully we can do something.”
In the earlier FP3 session it was a dominant Mercedes one-two with Bottas leading from team-mate Hamilton with Red Bull’s Verstappen and Perez third and fifth respectively as AlphaTauri’s Gasly split the pairing in fourth. You can read the full Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix 2021 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1105/qatar/practice-3.html
#QatarGP FP2: @ValtteriBottas quickest ahead of @PierreGASLY. #F1
#QatarGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen heads time-sheets in-front of @PierreGASLY. #F1
