With a superior drive to pole position, Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton keeps the pressure on world championship leader Max Verstappen high. The 36-year-old Mercedes driver raced confidently to first place on the grid in the floodlights of Qatar on Saturday and is the favorite in the premiere race in the controversial desert state this Sunday (3 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker on Formula 1 and on Sky). North of Doha, the Briton had almost half a second ahead of the Dutchman, Verstappen, who had no chance. Valtteri Bottas from Finland secured third place in the time hunt in the second Silver Arrow.
“The last one was a wonderful lap. The track is incredibly fast, it felt really good, ”said Hamilton. The fact that he drove his car so much faster than the competition came as a surprise to him too. In practice, Bottas looked like the fastest driver. "I don't really know what happened overnight and I can't explain it to myself," said Bottas.
Verstappen had problems with the rear wing again and again in the previous training sessions and had to admit defeat to Hamilton in the first section of qualifying. For Mick Schumacher it was all over again after this. In 19th place, the 22-year-old clearly missed the second knockout round and took to the track from the last row on the grid. The four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, who raced safely into the top ten in his Aston Martin and was unlucky in tenth place, did better. When he wanted to start on his fastest lap, the track was no longer fully open due to an accident.
At this point, Hamilton had already secured the best starting position. “Yesterday was really difficult. I really had problems in training, ”he said. Then he worked with his engineers in the paddock until midnight on Friday. "We found areas where we could improve," said Hamilton. Since Formula 1 is in Qatar for the first time, the drivers first have to get used to the circuit, on which the motorcycle world championship races have been held since 2004. "It's not that easy with so little training," said Hamilton.
His mission succeeded, however, and Verstappen is now under pressure. “We have to work on our start and then see what is possible. We're focusing on the race, ”said the 24-year-old. “We just weren't fast enough. Sometimes it just happens. ”To be second is“ okay, but it's a big deficit ”.
Before the third to last race of the season, Verstappen is still leading in the overall standings with 14 points ahead of Hamilton.
The fact that this lead will be even smaller retrospectively has been off the table since Friday.
Mercedes had failed in an attempt to protest against a decision by the race stewards at the Grand Prix in São Paulo in favor of Verstappen.
A right of review was not granted by the world motor sport association Fia.
The Silver Arrows had retrospectively checked a tough duel maneuver on Tuesday.