Lewis Hamilton won the pole position in today’s qualification for the Steiermark Grand Prix, the second race of this year’s F1 campaign.
The six-time world champ dominantly reached his 89th career pole, despite heavy rain at the Red Bull Ring circuit. The Brit was superb, leaving Max Verstappen behind for more than a second. Third place was take by Carlos Sainz Jr.
Weather factors were endangering the qualifiers, and there was a possibility to see them canceled. The third training session was off, and at one moment, it seemed that all the daily activities could be postponed as well. With more than one hour of delay, the qualifiers eventually began, and Hamilton’s performance during the same was a class of his own.
Lewis Hamilton's 89th career pole was masterly #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/nQGItrYXX5
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 11, 2020
During the last part of the session, Lewis was constantly improving his time, and the only one who was occasionally threatening was Verstappen. The Dutch tried to reach Hamilton’s time, but in the last attempt, he lost control of his vehicle, which left him behind the Mercedes driver. The gap was one second and 1.216 second. The difference between Red Bull’s star and Sainz was pretty close, 0.182 second.
Another Mercedes drove by Valtteri Bottas will start from the second grid, as the winner of the opening race, this season ended fourth. Renault Sebastian Okon is fifth, and Sainz’s team colleague Lando Norris recorded sixth time today. However, he will be moved to place No.9 because of the penalty received after training sessions. Alexander Albon will take his place.
What a qualifying that was! Absolute class from @LewisHamilton 💪#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/g2D5y9XlWJ
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 11, 2020
Ferrari’s duo Leclerc – Vettel disappointed today. They were on the verge of being eliminated in the second part of the qualifiers, but Vettel managed to progress to the last stage. Yet, he would end up 10th in the end.
On the other side, Leclerc’s performance was terrible. The young Monegasque ended as 11th, which caused heavy frustrations among the fans of the Prancing Horse. The former world champion, Kimi Raikkonen as 16th with his Alpha Romeo. All in all, terrible day for all the Ferrari supporters and members.
The race is set for tomorrow, with a start at 3:10 pm local time in Austria. The venue is the same as last week, Red Bull Ring.