#TuscanGP Qualifying Report: @LewisHamilton claims 95th-career pole. #F1

Lewis Hamilton clinched his 95th-career pole position in qualifying at the Tuscan GP beating Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by 0.059 seconds and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

Pole was set by the initial Q3 runs as Renault’s Esteban Ocon suffered a spin late in the session to bring out the yellow-flags.

This meant Hamilton’s 1:15.144 – Mugello’s new F1 track record – stood as the fastest time even though the Briton done his flyer ahead of the incident on his final Q3 run – where he failed to improve.

Bottas was 0.059 seconds adrift of Hamilton’s Tuscan GP pole benchmark, but the Finn left the pits behind the pack compared to his team-mate and aborted his lap as he came across Ocon’s incident at Poggio Secco, where the Frenchman dipped the wheel of his R.S.20 racer into the gravel and spun backwards.

Verstappen was able to get a final run in Q3 to set a personal best effort, but was still 0.365 off of Hamilton’s Tuscan GP pole time, who only got ahead of Bottas for the first time this weekend when he topped the sheets in Q2.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Alexander Albon qualified fourth, with Charles Leclerc taking fifth to give the Scuderia something to cheer about ahead of it’s 1000th world championship Grand Prix after a last minute improvement in the final qualifying stage, after coming off a poor result at the Italian GP last weekend in Monza.

BWT Racing Point’s Sergio Perez on did one hot-lap in Q3 to go sixth as no one else could improve on their efforts, while his team-mate Lance Stroll qualified seventh.

Perez will have a one-place grid drop for the Grand Prix after causing a collision with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen in Friday’s FP2 session.

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo was eighth and ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz who took ninth and Ocon tenth without setting a time in Q3.

Sainz’s last-final improvement in Q2 got him through to the top-ten shootout, but at the expense of his McLaren team-mate as Lando Norris was eliminated in the middle segment – the first time since the 2019 Italian GP that the Briton has not made it into the final stage of qualifying.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat qualified 12th despite going off at the exit of Savelli on his final Q2 flyer, which the Russian had to abandon as he went onto the gravel, with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen taking 13th.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel endured another difficult qualifying, ending a low 14th and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean who was the slowest of the Q2 runners.

In the first qualifying stage, Vettel’s final improvement knocked out last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly, who will start in his lowest position spot of the season in 16th.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi was pushed down to 17th after a flurry of improvements in the closing stages of Q1, while Williams Racing’s George Russell maintained his 100% qualifying record over team-mate Nicholas Latifi despite taking a dip into the gravel on his final flyer.

The Briton, who missed most of FP3 due to a brake-by-wire problem, slid wide at the exit of Savelli, with both right tyres of his Mercedes-powered FW43 racer in the gravel and the car bouncing across the grass as he darted back left for Arrabbiata 1.

But that did not disrupt his push to a personal best effort in Q1, taking 18th ahead of Latifi, who was the only driver in the Q1 eliminated drivers not to improve on his final flying lap.

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio Della Toscana (Tuscan GP) Ferrari 1000 2020 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1053/italy/qualifying.html

The Top Three

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

“The track is phenomenal, it’s a really challenging circuit. Valtteri was quicker than me all day yesterday and this morning and in Q1. Finally got the lap that I needed.”

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

“I was going to have more time there, [yellow flags ] were very disappointing as I’ve been quicker all weekend.”

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

“I never expected to really fight them in qualifying but overall the weekend has been promising, we’ve bounced back well from Monza.”

In the earlier Free Practice 3 session, it was Bottas topping the time-sheets and in-front of Red Bull’s Verstappen who was second, Mercedes team-mate Hamilton who took third, with Racing Point’s Stroll and AlphaTauri’s Gasly completing the top five. You can catch up on the highlights here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSJGrOxKS1s

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