The two faces of Lewis Hamilton in Sochi: from the threat of disaster to a wonderful 'pole'

The 96th pole of his career, including a record in Sochi (1.31.304), was one of the most unusual in the life of

.

After a string of previous mistakes, the World Championship leader pulled off an amazing lap against

, a

specialist on the Russian track.

"It was one of my worst Saturdays," admitted the World Cup, which on Sunday will start with soft tires to contain the momentum of

, always aggressive with the slipstreams.

"It was an epic lap," revealed the Red Bull leader, after finding the right balance for his car.

To the variations in the anemometer, with an annoying tail wind, the drop in temperatures was added.

Friday's sun had given way to a cloudy sky and an asphalt with just 32ºC.

However, these variations in the weather did not affect

, installed all afternoon in the privileged times.

Finally he will start from sixth place, behind

and

, fifth, his most qualified rivals in the middle of the grid.

In a stroke of genius, Hamilton took half a second over Verstappen and more than six tenths in front of Bottas, with a small error in turn 1. Who would have suspected it minutes before, with two almost consecutive mishaps by Lewis, when exceeding the limits track at Turn 2 and locking the left front wheel at Turn 13.

Ferrari, out of Q3

It was not the only scare of a very tight first round, where Ferrari could only avoid the disaster by occupying the last two positions.

The exponential improvement in the last attempts gave Leclerc a good scare, surpassed by the opponents to fall from fifth to fourteenth place.

Sainz also did not return to the asphalt and collapsed from fourth to twelfth.

It must have been difficult to warm up the tires in those uneasy moments, when Pérez announced a few drops of rain that did not materialize.

Hamilton again pushed the limits at the last corner, thus erasing his time.

The hexacampeón did not give one, exposed to another couple of extreme situations.

At Turn 4

, bothered by the tailwind, crashed his SF-1000 against the protections and

had to settle for not taking it ahead.

The red flag ordered by

, with just two and a half minutes left, forced Hamilton to go the extra mile.

He had to leave quickly and get rid of the slower ones.

However, he shook too early and then left too much space in front of

, so he looked in a rush to reach the goal with a green light.

The record of 91 wins

A strange breakdown, with the car already making the single file, condemned

and Leclerc infuriated with the communication error that prevented him from avoiding Vettel with greater anticipation.

The honor of Racing Point was saved by Pérez, while

could not squeeze the new nose and front wing of his McLaren.

On Sunday, for regulatory reasons, Hamilton will start on soft tires and with great care to stay out of reach of Bottas and Verstappen on the endless straight.

There shouldn't be too much of a problem for 44, who will push hard to match

record of 91 wins

.

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Know more

• Sebastian Vettel

• Sergio perez

• Valtteri Bottas

• michael schumacher

• Daniel Ricciardo

• Lewis hamilton

• Max verstappen

• Formula 1

• sports

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