Lewis Hamilton claimed a record-increasing 95th pole position on Saturday when he outpaced Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas to seize the prime grid position in qualifying for Sunday’s inaugural Tuscan Grand Prix.
It was the series leader and six-time champion’s seventh pole in eight races this year as Mercedes continued their dominant run to nine poles out of nine this season with an eighth consecutive front row lockout.
Bottas had been fastest in all three practice sessions, but he was unable to maintain his superiority over the Briton in the decisive hour albeit that his second run was affected by yellow flags after Esteban Ocon spun in his Renault.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third ahead of his team-mate Alex Albon with Charles Leclerc claiming fifth for Ferrari, as they celebrate their 1000th Grand Prix at their own circuit.
Sergio Perez, who faces a one-place grid penalty for his brush with Kimi Raikkonen on Friday, qualified sixth ahead of his Racing Point team-mate Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo of Renault, Carlos Sainz of McLaren and Ocon.
“It’s been a very tough weekend,” said Hamilton. “And I’m very grateful to my team because it has been so close with Valtteri and Max, but what a circuit this is!”
‘A work in progress’
Mercedes hope to complete their contract talks and agree a new deal with Lewis Hamilton during the upcoming mini-breaks in the congested Formula One calendar, team chief Toto Wolff has revealed.
But, he told a news conference at Mugello, he does not have a date in mind when he hopes to announce a happy conclusion and confirmation that the six-time world champion has a new deal with the team.
The series leader said in July that he expected it to be a relatively straightforward process and “not a big effort” and he had no desire to move to another team.
Wolff supported this on Friday when he pointed out that the three ‘triple-headers’ this season — making for nine races in 11 weeks since the coronavirus-hit calendar began — had offered few opportunities for talks.
“This is a work in progress and I wouldn’t want to commit to a specific date,” said Wolff.
“We get on very well, but then when it comes down to the detail, you just need enough time to do that. With one race after the other, we don’t want to be distracted by contract talks. In between, with the larger gaps, like next week, we’re moving towards a satisfactory outcome, but I don’t know when it will be announced.”