Tuscany Grand Prix – Qualifying: Hamilton on pole, Bottas 59 thousandths behind

Q3: Frustration for Bottas, pole position for Hamilton!

A rather slow preparation lap allowed Lewis Hamilton to take the lead at the start of Q3 with a lap time of 1:15.144. A sufficient time to secure the 95th pole position of his career, a unique statistic in the history of Formula 1. At Mugello this Saturday afternoon, Valtteri Bottas could not beat him, falling short by 59 thousandths of a second.

On the final attempt, Hamilton did not improve his lap time, despite a record in the second sector. But neither Bottas nor Max Verstappen improved their times either!

Only rival of the Mercedes duo, Verstappen ultimately conceded three-tenths at the end but maintains his third place.

4th after the first timed lap, Alex Albon also held onto his position by finishing “best of the rest.” Big surprise for Charles Leclerc, 5th in a Ferrari at home, far ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

The Monegasque even overtook the two Racing Points of Sergio Pérez (6th) and Lance Stroll (7th). Pérez will drop one place on the starting grid, after his collision with Kimi Räikkönen this Friday in free practice 2.

Behind Daniel Ricciardo (8th) and Carlos Sainz (9th), disappointment for Esteban Ocon, 10th due to a spin on his final flying lap in the first sector, following a driving error.

Q2: Vettel, always the same story (in 2020)

The Mercedes cars set off at the start of the second part of qualifying to avoid any traffic. Hamilton and Bottas were immediately followed by the two Red Bulls, the two Racing Points, and the two Ferraris.

All cars started on soft tires in Q2, no one attempted the mediums. From the first mark, Hamilton took the lead with a 1:15.309, followed by Bottas and Verstappen within the same tenth. Behind this formidable trio, the Renaults took 5th and 8th place, with Ricciardo and Ocon lapping at the same pace as Leclerc, Stroll, and Perez.

The second and last attempt did not allow Pérez to improve, like his Canadian teammate. The same observation for Vettel, 14th at the end of Q2, behind his former partner, Alfa Romeo driver Räikkönen, in an encouraging 13th place. Only Carlos Sainz and Ocon improved their times to take 10th and 6th place respectively, pushing Lando Norris to 11th and the first eliminated in Q2.

Also noteworthy is the surprising side-by-side between Verstappen and Stroll during this Q2, as they exited the pits.

Eliminated in Q2: Norris, Kvyat, Räikkönen, Vettel, Grosjean

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Verstappen and Stroll getting cosy in the pit lane #TuscanGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/1DfxnRWbad

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 12, 2020

Q1: The Monza hero trapped from the start, Gasly 16th!

Star in Monza last Sunday, the return to earth was difficult for Pierre Gasly, who was 16th after his first fast lap. A bad omen: it was also the Frenchman’s final position after Q1. The AlphaTauri driver was finally trapped by 53 thousandths of a second, narrowly edged out by Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari. Gasly immediately pointed to an MGU-K problem, which reportedly cut out at the start of the straight on his two flying laps. 10th in Monza, Gasly will start six places lower at Mugello.

A week after Claire Williams’ departure, the Williams team struggled against the clock, with George Russell (18th) and Nicholas Latifi (19th) only ahead of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas (20th) by a tenth of a second. The Williams team was notably beaten by Alfa Romeo. However, the gap with Antonio Giovinazzi is minimal, as the Italian took 17th place with just 12 thousandths of a second in advance!

Eliminated in Q1: Gasly, Giovinazzi, Russell, Latifi, Magnussen

Tough Quali for @PierreGASLY just getting knocked out at the end of Q1, he’ll line up P16 tomorrow @kvyatofficial comfortably made it through to Q2 in P10 ???? #AlphaTauri #F1 #TuscanGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/vpWgfYf8dC

— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) September 12, 2020

The final ranking of these Qualifications: