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Hamilton secures pole position for the Tuscan Grand Prix

12 September 2020 at 15:00
Last update 12 September 2020 at 15:06
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Lewis Hamilton has qualified on pole for the first-ever Tuscan Grand Prix in Italy. Hamilton achieves his 95th F1 career pole, with Mugello being his 28th different circuit to record a pole position. The Brit struggled to get to grips with the circuit in practice but managed to beat his Mercedes teammate by around 0.060 when it mattered. Valtteri Bottas lines up in second place, and Max Verstappen rounds out the top 3. 

Hamilton failed to improve on his time in the final run of Q3, and Bottas was also unable to improve due to yellow flags. Esteban Ocon spun out on track which forced the Finnish driver to lift on his final fast lap in qualifying. Everyone apart from Charles Leclerc and Hamilton had to lift on the final lap. 

Alex Albon lines up behind Max Verstappen in P4. The Dutchman looked likely to challenge for the front-row after the practice sessions, but the Mercedes team found another level in qualifying. On their 1000th Grand Prix weekend, Charles Leclerc brings some good news to the Italian fans with a P5 start in the Tuscan Grand Prix. 

Q1

Last weekend's Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly, was one of the drivers in danger after the first run in Q1. The Frenchman couldn't pull himself out of the drop zone and will start tomorrow's race from 16th. Despite having two wheels in the gravel, George Russell out-qualified Nicholas Latifi again keeping his 100% record alive.

Ahead of Ferrari's 1000th race, Sebastian Vettel was straight on the team radio asking if he'd made it through to Q2 once the checkered flag dropped. His engineer replied with some positive news as the Ferrari driver edged through by the skin of his teeth.

Out 
16th - Gasly
17th - Giovinazzi
18th - Russell
19th - Latifi
20th - Magnussen

Q2

Carlos Sainz was one of the few drivers to improve on their lap time in the second run of Q2. His 1:16.522 was strong enough to push his McLaren teammate out of Q3 for the first time this season. Lando Norris ends his streak of 15 consecutive Grand Prix weekends with a Q3 appearance.

Kimi Raikkonen will start ahead of his former teammate Sebastian Vettel while Daniil Kvyat managed to out-qualify his teammate but couldn't get his AlphaTauri into Q3. Meanwhile, at the top, Hamilton topped the timesheets for the first time this weekend. Verstappen was knocking on the door of the front-row with a 1:15.471.

Out
11th - Norris
12th - Kvyat
13th - Raikkonen
14th - Vettel
15th - Grosjean