He reached the best time in the third qualifying session, covering a distance of one minute and 16,652 seconds.
“I can’t tell you how hard it was today,” said the lucky pole position owner after the qualifier. “I saw Botass win each session and just tried to find time to spare. I chose to make three laps so I could still beat my time.”
Hamilton won his ninth qualifying victory this season and his 97th career victory.
He was 0.102 seconds ahead of his teammate Finnish driver Valters Botas, who dominated the whole weekend, but in Sunday’s race will be forced to settle for second place in the first starting line, and Red Bull driver Max Verstapen by 0.252 seconds.
“In the end, I also had to do two qualifying rounds in a row,” he regretted after losing the first position. “It would have been nice to start the race on the clean side of the track, but let’s see what we can do from the second position.”
“I’m happy for the third place, the lap was done quite well. Besides, we are not far behind (from Mercedes drivers),” Verstapen told the organizers. “Starting will definitely be important.”
Ferrari driver Charles Clare took fourth place, Racing Point spokesman Serhio Peress, and Red Bull driver Alexander Albon took fourth place.
The qualifying runs were delayed by half an hour, repairing the grid of the sewage system damaged in the third training runs.
Botass also immediately took the lead in the qualification, completing the lap in a minute and 17,064 seconds. After a while, he was beaten by Verstapen, who in turn – Hamilton.
After sifting out the five slowest riders, the second round of the qualifying race started again with the fastest time – a minute and 16.466 seconds.
At the end of the second qualification, the Australian Daniel Rikjardo (“Renault”) entered the tire barrier with the back of the formula, but was able to leave the gravel lane and entered the decisive stage of the qualification.
World champion Sebastian Vettel from “Ferrari”, who took the 15th place, was not at the last start.
In the third practice runs on the Algarve International Track, Botass was the fastest in the 4,684-kilometer lap. He reached the result by one minute and 16,654 seconds, ahead of Hamilton by 0.026 seconds and by Verstapen by 0.158 seconds.
The day after Frenchman Pierre Gasli ‘s “Aplha Tauri” broke out, he finished fourth in his third practice run, finishing fifth to Thai Albon from Red Bull, while both Ferrari drivers, Clecker and Vettel, ranked sixth and 11th respectively. place.
It has already been reported that Botass won the first two practice runs on Friday, the first of which was ahead of teammate Hamilton and Verstapen, and the second – Verstapen and Lendo Noris (“McLaren”).
The Grand Prix of Portugal is expected on Sunday. In it, Hamilton will have the opportunity to become the richest pilot in the history of F-1.
Hamilton is convincingly heading towards his seventh title, scoring 230 points in 11 stages. Botass, who has 161 points, is behind the court with almost three victories, and Verstapens is third with 147 points.
A record number of races were planned this season (22), but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the organizers are now approving 17 stages.
Last season, Hamilton was crowned world champion, triumphing for the sixth time in his career and for the third time in a row.
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