We had to wait until the very end of the qualifying to know the man in pole position. Lewis Hamilton got the pole thanks to an aggressive final lap. He is ahead Valtteri Bottas, who finished 0’’086 behind his teammate. The Mercedes drivers will try to have a 6th consecutive 1-2 finish. Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel will start on the second line and will try to stop the Mercedes dominion. A new track record was set during the qualifying as Lewis Hamilton completed his pole position lap in 1’10’’166. The elimination of Charles Leclerc in Q1 was a bombshell. The Monégasque will start from the 16th position tomorrow.

Reactions :
Lewis Hamilton
« This is definitely one of the best pole I can remember. I can’t remember one that was as important as this one. It has been a difficult week. But I’m proud of everyone and now we will try to deliver. »

Valtteri Bottas
« Congrats to Lewis for the pole position. I’m proud of the 1-2. But I’m disappointed with the qualifying. I felt after the first lap there were plenty of places to improve, but I had traffic and couldn’t get the tyres up to temperature. »

Max Verstappen
« I hadn’t much qualifying here so I’m happy to be on third position. It’s better than the past years. My lap was pretty stable, not bad. I had a bit of traffic on my out lap, my tires were a bit cold then. But we did a good job and for myself it has been a good qualifying. »

© Jean-François Galeron – wri2.net