Hamilton takes authoritarian pole at Suzuka

Lewis Hamilton took an authoritative pole position on the Suzuka circuit (Japan). The Briton beat the old lap record by more than a second, obtained by Michael Schumacher on board his Ferrari with a V8 engine in 2006. This is his 71st pole, the third on Japanese soil, but the first on the demanding Suzuka circuit.

The Drivers' Championship leader has never been worried by the performances of his opponents, starting with his title rival Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari). The latter did not manage to get ahead of the Flèche d’argent throughout the entire session, and was even beaten by Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes). The German will still have the opportunity to start from the front row tomorrow, due to a five-place penalty imposed on Bottas for changing gearboxes.

Behind, the Red Bull made life difficult for Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari); Daniel Ricciardo et Max Verstappen were faster than the Finn in the final seconds of qualifying. On the side of the French clan, Esteban Ocon (Force India) beat his teammate Sergio Pérez and will start in fifth place on the starting grid. “A top 5 is nice! The car is a pure joy to drive, we have been closing the gap to the leading teams for a few races, and that is reflected in the final result”, he explained when he got out of the car.

The fear of Romain Grosjean (Haas) will have marked the first part of the qualifications. The Frenchman, then virtually eliminated, took all the risks to get out of this bad situation. But after driving on the grass runoffs, the Haas spun before hitting the protective tires, causing a red flag. " How are you ", recounted Grosjean after his accident. “I don’t know what happened, on the first lap the car was really good. Then, it became difficult to drive, very oversteering, we need to understand what happened. »

The last Frenchman hired, Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso), finished his session in Q1 (17th), while the Renault de Nico Hulkenberg recorded the 12th time. However, with the numerous penalties incurred by Kimi Räikkönen (+5 places), Fernando Alonso (McLaren, +35 places), Jolyon Palmer (Renault +20 places) and Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso +20 places), the grid will be significantly different from the qualifying hierarchy.