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But the out-of-control F1 championship leader is philosophical about losing pole position to his Mercedes teammate after a change in the closing laps; Watch Sunday’s Emilia-Romagna GP live only on Sky Sports F1 on Sunday at 12.10pm
By James Galloway
Last Updated: 10/31/20 8:42 pm
Lewis Hamilton admitted that a “poor” final qualifying lap ruined his hopes of beating Valtteri Bottas to pole position in F1’s return to Imola at the Emilia-Romagna GP.
Hamilton was supreme in this year’s decisive third and final stage of qualifying, scoring nine of 12 poles before Imola, but had to give his best to his Mercedes teammate on Saturday after Bottas turned the tables. in the final laps of Q3.
Hamilton had a 0.031s lead after the penultimate laps but, although he improved his time by an additional seven hundredths of a second in the final laps of Q3, Bottas found almost two-tenths on his own lap to clinch his 15th career pole. .
“Valtteri did a great job,” Hamilton said.
“It was a pretty poor lap for me. These things happen, you can’t always do it perfect.”
The six-time champion, who leads Bottas by 77 points in the championship, later added that his two laps in Q3 “weren’t that good to be honest” and therefore “not so bad” to finish just one tenth adrift.
0:57 Valtteri Bottas took pole position ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton on his final qualifying lap at Imola
‘I don’t think there are many people who can do what he does’
Saturday was the fourth time this season that Bottas won the duel against Hamilton for pole position. However, the simple stats don’t fully reflect the consistently tight margins on Saturdays among Mercedes teammates.
Hamilton has claimed five of his nine poles for less than one-tenth and a half from the Finn and, when asked to rate Bottas at the post-session press conference, said: “I don’t think I really need to say God, he just got the pole position.
“He is ahead of me. I have more posts than anyone here [97], so it’s not like it’s slow.
1:00 Valtteri Bottas was happy to get pole on his final qualifying lap at Imola
“So he’s doing an incredible job and I think his results today speak for themselves. I don’t really need to say much more.
“He talks on the track and that’s the best thing about Valtteri. I don’t think there are many people who can do what he’s doing if I’m really honest, so I have great respect for him.” . “
Exclusive: Bottas on how he beat Hamilton to pole
4:55 Valtteri Bottas talks about his pole-winning lap as he outscored Lewis Hamilton by 0.097s at the end of Q3 at Imola.
Ted’s rating summary
27:31 Ted Kravitz sums up all the qualifying action at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday night
Hamilton enjoys Imola’s ‘challenge’
F1’s return to Imola after a 14-year absence takes place over a single two-day weekend, meaning all the action so far took place on Saturday.
Only Kimi Raikkonen among the current group had ever driven F1 machinery during a race weekend on the fast and fluid track.
“What a beautiful place we are here in Italy and the track is incredible, the speeds that we go around this track,” said Hamilton, who last drove on the historic Italian circuit in GP2.
“Grateful to be here and grateful to have the performance we have, which is really remarkable. It feels better than in the last race.
“It was a real challenge, but I enjoyed it.”
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