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Hamilton posted a best lap in one minute, 31.304 seconds to overtake Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by half a second.
FILE: Lewis Hamilton celebrates his sixth drivers’ championship after finishing second at the United States Formula One Grand Prix in Austin, Texas on November 3, 2019. Image: AFP
RUSSIA – Formula One series leader Lewis Hamilton emerged from a “horrible” red flag qualifying session in Sochi on Saturday with an impressive pole position for Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix.
The six-time Mercedes champion posted a best lap in one minute and 31.304 seconds to overtake Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by half a second.
His Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was third fastest with Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez sharing the second row.
Hamilton seeks his fifth victory at the Sochi track, where Mercedes has dominated all six races since 2014.
If he translates pole into victory, he will equal Michael Schumacher’s career record of 91 Grand Prix victories.
Saturday’s second session was interrupted for 10 minutes after Sebastian Vettel crashed in his Ferrari. He was unharmed.
Replays showed that the German driver, in his final season with Ferrari, cut a curb at turn four and lost control when hitting the barriers.
The red flags went out with Hamilton in a dangerous 15th place with just over two minutes to go.
He said: “It was one of the worst qualifying sessions. It was horrible, with my heart in my mouth.
“I wanted to stay out and do a banker, but they told me to go in and buy new tires and then the red flag came out. It was a risk, we passed it but I’m starting with soft, which is not good.
“Without a doubt, they will probably drag me down tomorrow, it will make it difficult to win the race.”
Once Q2 finally resumed, Hamilton managed to set the fourth fastest time to move into the top 10 on penalties, but the two Ferraris and Vettel’s teammate Charles Leclerc were missing in eleventh place.
Fifth on Sunday’s Sochi grid is Daniel Ricciardo for Renault, Carlos Sainz was sixth for McLaren, ahead of Esteban Ocon in second Renault, Lando Norris in second McLaren, Pierre Gasly of Alpha Tauri and Alex Albon in the second Red Bull.
Sunday’s race will be watched by the largest sports crowd in the Covid-19 era with 30,000 fans allowed to attend.
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