Portuguese GP: Valtteri Bottas takes pole as Lewis Hamilton misses out on record

Lewis Hamilton’s pursuit of an unprecedented 100 pole position starts in Formula 1 will have to wait. The seven-time world champion was looking good to claim pole position at Saturday’s qualifying for the Portuguese GP. This was largely down to the fact that the Red Bull’s of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez struggled for pace, despite being the pace setters in practice. Yet when push came to shove in Q3, both Perez and Verstappen looked slower. Hamilton couldn’t have asked for more ideal conditions. Yet in the end, he was thwarted by his own team-mate by the smallest of gaps.

Bottas was seven thousandths of a second faster than Hamilton, and that proved enough in the end. This will be the 17th time that the Finnish driver will start from pole.

Verstappen, who had a timing deleted for exceeding track limits, will start third with Perez at fourth.

Elsewhere, the surprise performer of qualifying was Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman has been outpaced by teammate Fernando Alonso so far this season. However, he showed superior pace and starts the race in 6th.

Another notable overachiever was Sebastian Vettel. The four-time world champion has struggled so far at Aston Martin but he showed his class and will start 10th.

The Ferrari’s of Carlos Sainz and Charles LeClerc also enjoyed a good run. Sainz will start the race at fifth with LeClerc at eighth.

McLaren driver Lando Norris is seventh, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly at ninth.

Portuguese GP qualifying’s biggest shocks

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian, who is still coming to grips with his McLaren, was eliminated in Q1 itself and will start the race at 16th.

The other surprising miss in Q2 was Lance Stroll. While his teammate Vettel finished in the top 10, Stroll’s Aston Martin will start in 17th.

Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin rounding off the bottom five.

Latifi’s teammate George Russell once again made it to Q2 but missed out on Q3 by five hundredths of a second. The Alfa Romeo’s of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikonnen finished 12th and 15th, respectively.

Fernando Alonso will begin the race at 13th while promising rookie Yuki Tsunoda will start the race at 14th.

Yet the biggest talking point now will be if Bottas can insert himself into what, so far, has been a two-way shootout for the title between Hamilton and Verstappen.

Should he cross the chequered flag first on Sunday, he might just set the proverbial cat among the pigeons.