Portuguese GP: Hamilton shines on the last lap, beats Bottas and achieves pole position 97 in F1 | Formula 1

If he wins this Sunday in Portimão, Hamilton will achieve his 92nd victory in Formula 1 and will become the sole record holder, beating German Michael Schumacher.

The Formula 1 Portuguese GP begins at 10:10 am (Brasilia time) this Sunday, with a live broadcast on TV Globo. The narration will be provided by Cleber Machado, with comments from Luciano Burti and Felipe Giaffone. The ge also shows the race on video.

Max Verstappen had a good workout and was third on the grid, just 0s252 from pole position, and Charles Leclerc will close the second row with Ferrari. Sergio Pérez was once again the best driver at Racing Point and completed the fastest five.

The top ten of the grid also featured, from sixth to tenth, Alexander Albon (RBR), Carlos Sainz Jr. (McLaren), Lando Norris (McLaren), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) and Daniel Ricciardo (Renault).

HAMILTON: “I can’t tell you how difficult it was today! I just saw Valtteri dominate the entire session, and I was digging to save time … I chose to do three laps to get a chance to beat his time.”

BOTTLE: “As a last resort, I could also have done two laps … It would have been great to start on the clean side, but let’s see what we can do from second.

VERSTAPPEN: “I’m happy with third place, the lap was decent. We are not left behind. The start will be important. We will feel our form during the race and see how we get there.”

What do you need to know?

– Hamilton’s pole number 97 in F1 and ninth in the 2020 season.

– With fourth place, Leclerc repeats his best starting position of the year.

– For the fifth time in 12 races, Pérez is in the top 5 on the starting grid.

Q1 – 18 minutes and five eliminated

Bottas was the first to make a competitive lap, with 1m17s064, with Norris in second place, at 0s463, and Pérez 0s565, in third place. Hamlton made a mistake on the first lap, but then improved and was only 0 seconds behind his teammate, with Leclerc climbing to third.

Seven minutes before the end of Q1, Verstappen recovered from an error at Turn 1 to take first place on the next lap, with a 0s066 lead over Bottas, who had dropped his mark to 1m16s945. In the next minute, Hamilton jumped to the head with 1’16.88. Gasly had an excellent Q1 and finished fourth.

Raikkonen even left the court area by overtaking Giovinazzi on his last attempt, but Russell was 15th on the final lap and qualified. Vettel, who was at risk of being knocked out, also improved on the final lap and climbed to seventh.

16th KIMI RAIKKONEN (ALFA ROMEO)
XVII ANTONIO GIOVINAZZI (ALFA ROMEO)
18th ROMAIN GROSJEAN (HAAS)
19th KEVIN MAGNUSSEN (HAAS)
20th NICHOLAS LATIFI (WILLIAMS)

Q2 – 15 minutes and five eliminated

On medium tires, Bottas already managed 1m16s466 on the first lap launched, while Hamilton was hampered by Vettel in his attempt. In the second round, the Englishman managed to climb to second place, but at 0358 for the Finn. Using soft compounds, Verstappen made the third time, 0s630 from the leader.

At the last minute, Ricciardo spun and hit the tire protection after being hindered by traffic, but still managed to qualify for Q3 with the last wave, displacing his teammate Ocon by just 0s133. However, damage to Ricciardo’s car prevented the Australian from participating in Q3.

The negative highlight of Q2 was Sebastian Vettel, who was only 15th on the grid, even behind George Russell’s Williams. It is the worst qualifying sequence for the four-time champion, who was out of Q3 for the seventh consecutive race.

11th ESTEBAN OCON (RENAULT)
12TH LANZA RIDE (RACING POINT)
13th DANIIL KVYAT (ALPHATAURI)
14th GEORGE RUSSELL (WILLIAMS)
XV SEBASTIAN VETTEL (FERRARI)

Q3: ten minutes and contest for pole

Bottas opened the final stage of qualifying in 1’16.986, with Hamilton just 0s047 behind. In the end, the six-time champion dropped the best mark to 1m16s934, but Bottas was even faster at 1m16s754. Only Hamilton made one last attempt and took another impressive pole position with 1’16.665.

Verstappen was briefly in second place before Hamilton’s final attempt, but was even in third place, with Leclerc and Pérez securing the remaining positions in the top5.