Qualifying: Hamilton takes pole, second row start for Ricciardo
- Published on 29 Aug 2020 16:06
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- By: Coilin Higgins
Lewis Hamilton has taken pole position for tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix, with Valtteri Bottas starting alongside on the front row. Max Verstappen will start third.
Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen were the first cars out, setting the early pace in Q1, Grosjean and Magnussen using the two to benefit each other in the hopes of moving into the next session.
Both Hamilton and Bottas went faster than the rest of the times by almost a second as Hamilton took the top spot with ten minutes to go.
Charles Leclerc only scraped into the second session after finishing Q1 in fifteenth, while teammate Sebastian Vettel finished in twelfth to take both Ferraris into Q2.
Mercedes again topped Q2, as the two Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon showed more promising form in fourth and fifth, as Ricciardo reported a brake-by-wire issue on his return to the pit lane.
Ricciardo eventually qualified in fourth with Alexander Albon finishing the session in fifth. Esteban Ocon qualified in sixth, with Carlos Sainz behind in seventh.
Racing Point initially tried to use the harder medium tyre to qualify but found both cars out of the top ten. However, a second run on softs ensured a Q3 appearance for Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez.
For the first time in 53 F1 races at Spa, Ferrari failed to reach the top ten, with Leclerc and Vettel qualifying thirteenth and fourteenth, ahead of the Williams of George Russell but behind both of the Alpha Tauri drivers.
Ricciardo managed to return in Q3 and went provisional third ahead of both Red Bulls. Bottas had a poor first run in the session, ending up over half a second down on Hamilton after an error going through La Source.
Bottas could not better his time on the second run and Hamilton took his 93rd pole position, while Ricciardo qualified in fourth for Renault, just behind former Red Bull teammate Verstappen.
The two Racing Points of Perez and Stroll will start eighth and ninth, as Lando Norris qualified in tenth for tomorrow's race.
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Replies (9)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It could still be a fun race, Calle said, all the while clenching his fists and panting heavily. There is still rain to expect tomorrow, surely that'll twist things up... yes yes tge rain.... must rain...
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
It will be a fantastic outside of 1st place
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
true, but the camera tend to focus on the front. But rain will likely improve the race as a whole, top or mid.
MarkZ
Posts: 31
Wow! That's amazing! Again! Gee I just wonder who's gonna win. Again. Mercedes must be so surprised! Again....again......again.....aga.
xoya
Posts: 583
I am surprised by this result since Hamilton was convinced that RedBull is the favourite.
Wow, who would've thought that Mercedes could do it in spite of RedBull's dominance?
essaouira311
Posts: 158
Merc are the outsiders. They might as well win!!!
JuJuHound
Posts: 352
Ferrari's pace exactly shows what they were doing with their engines last year. Binotto should be fired as soon as possible to making this happen. It's funny how it looks today and how it looked when Max mentioned Ferrari's game last year.
JuJuHound
Posts: 352
"Bottas could not better his time on the second run and Hamilton took his 93rd pole position".
Bottas Q3
1st run 1:42.029
2nd run 1:41.763
Pistonhead
Posts: 556
Aside first place it was tight tight tight - going to be a very good race tomorrow me feels .......cant wait !