Behind the four cars powered by Mercedes came Ferrari, which collected its best qualifying result of 2020 so far with fifth and sixth, as Red Bull was only able to achieve seventh place with Max Verstappen, while Alex Albon was knocked out. in Q2.
Hamilton set the pace in the first few races in Q3 after both Mercedes and the two Racing Point riders reached the final segment on medium tires, where everyone will start Sunday’s race.
Bottas needed to close a 0.4s gap in the closing laps and, although he improved, Hamilton did the same and roared his 90th F1 pole with 1m13.443s, with his teammate 0.107s adrift.
The Mercedes works were the only cars capable of crossing the 1m14s barrier, with Stroll third in 1m14,377s.
Perez eliminated his first race in Q3 for a breach of the track boundaries at turn 4, but took fourth place on his last lap.
Sebastian Vettel beat Charles Leclerc to fifth, with the Ferraris ready to be the first of the top 10 riders to start the race on soft rubber.
It is the first time in 2020 that both Ferrari reach the third quarter.
Verstappen finished seventh, almost 1.5 seconds below Hamilton’s best time, after complaining about his RB16’s handling in the mid-speed corners.
McLaren duo Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz took eighth and ninth, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly completing the top 10.
Sainz was investigated for hindering Antonio Giovinazzi at the chicane in Q1 when the Alfa Romeo driver was on a fast lap, but the stewards took no further action.
Although Sainz passed two quarterback posts with blue flags, there was no blue light panel and the stewards accepted that he was unable to see the first blue flag and did not have enough time to react to the second blue flag due to his position on the track.
Gasly, who missed the entire FP1 due to an engine problem, complained of power issues in both opening segments, but didn’t set a time in Q3 after suggesting that his power unit couldn’t go any further in the Qualification when he completed his final run in Q2.
Daniel Ricciardo was ranked eleventh, unable to win his first Q2 race in the middle after switching to the softs, but the Renault driver will nevertheless have the free option to start the rubber for the race.
George Russell was delighted to make it to Q2 for the second race in a row and matched his best qualifying result with P12, the same place he qualified for last weekend’s Styrian GP, ahead of Alex’s second Red Bull Albon.
After complaining about his car’s balance during practice and qualifying, Albon finished 13th, 0.207 seconds behind Gasly’s cutoff time in the second segment, and criticized his team after finding traffic on his last lap of Q2. .
Like Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon tested the media early in Q2 and although he improved his personal best after switching to softs, he will start 14th and ahead of Nicholas Latifi.
In Q1 Latifi managed to pass two Williams cars in the second qualifying stage for the first time since the 2018 Italian GP, as Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat were unable to improve enough in the last few laps, which were characterized by important follow the evolution and the drop times that meant that all drivers made a final effort.
The Haas Magnussen driver finished P16, with the AlphaTauri just behind, while Romain Grosjean ranked 18th in the second Haas.
Alfa Romeo drivers will start last, with all four Ferrari client cars knocked out in Q1, with Antonio Giovinazzi ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
Giovinazzi lost time at the beginning of Q1, which was overtaken by Pérez and Stroll, due to a violation of the limits of the track at turn 4, the quick left turn at the beginning of the second sector.
