All eyes are on Portugal for what could be a historic Sunday for Formula 1 and Lewis Hamilton.
PORTIMAO, Portugal—Saturday, September 24th—Lewis Hamilton is closing in on the all-time Grand Prix win record. And that made for an exciting time at Saturday afternoon’s qualifying at the Autodromo Internacional Do Algarve in preparation for what could be a historic Sunday at the Portuguese Grand Prix.
Hamilton took the pole position with a time of 1:16:652, just ahead of his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Max Verstappen took third for Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton: We have a great car, but you have to drive the nuts off it to pull out a lap. Valtteri (Bottas) has been so quick, and I have been digging and digging to try to find the extra time.
Indeed, Bottas was a worthy competitor, having taken both Friday practices and the third practice on Saturday morning. Qualifying was a different story, though, especially when Hamilton decided to take his last flying lap on medium tires. The track was recently resurfaced, making the grip level very difficult, and Bottas switched to medium tires as well. That decision may have cost him a chance to get the pole.
All of this happened after the opening qualifying session was delayed for half an hour. In Sebastian Vettel’s third practice run, the German-run over a drainage ditch at turn 14. After that, the track marshals, which included the F.I.A. inspectors, ensured that all areas (included the ditches) were secured before any of the cars began their qualifying runs.
When qualifying started, it was a rough go for many of the drivers/teams. In the opening session. Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi of Alfa Romeo, the American Haas F1 Team of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, and Nicolas Latifi of Williams exited. Ferrari’s Vettel, Renault’s Esteban Ocon, Williams’ George Russell, and Alpha Tauri’s Dani Kvyat were eliminated from the second.
For the rest, qualifying had a positive outcome. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari took an impressive fourth, while Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was fifth. Red Bull’s Alex Albon was sixth, with the McLaren duo of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris seventh and eighth, respectively. Ninth went to Pierre Gasly of Alpha Tauri, and Daniel Ricciardo, who spun near the last corner in the final moments of the second session, settled for tenth.
After his qualifying runs, Hamilton talked about how important it is to be patient on this circuit. “I chose to do three laps to have a stab at beating his (Bottas) time. I thought, ‘This could provide me with an opportunity,’ and it worked.”
Now the real fun begins in what could be a historic Sunday for Formula 1.
