The Mercedes driver now has 99 poles and 96 race wins to his name
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World Champion Lewis Hamilton got ahead of Red Bull drivers to secure the pole position for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday. The Red Bull drivers were favourite to secure the top spot, but Hamilton edged past them to secure his 99th career pole. Hamilton, who won the opener in Bahrain last month, also has 96 race wins to his name till now.
The 36-year-old might very well hit a hundred in both pole and race wins this season. Then he will become the first driver to reach the double-hundred mark. In both pole positions and race wins, Hamilton holds the world record. Michael Schumacher’s 68 pole wins is the next best in the category, while Schumacher is second in the race tally as well. The German has won 91 races, which was beaten by Hamilton quite recently.
At the Emilia-Romagna GP on Saturday, Hamilton posted the fastest time of 1:14.411 in the third qualifying session. It was 0.035 seconds ahead of second-placed Sergio Perez and 0.087 ahead of third-placed Max Verstappen.
Starting Sunday’s race with both the Red Bull drivers breathing down his neck will be a major challenge for Hamilton. But, he is more than ready for the battle. “I didn’t expect to be ahead of two Red Bulls, they’ve been so quick this weekend,” Hamilton said.
“The car is feeling much better, I want to thank the team for their hard work. I love the challenge, having two Red Bulls will definitely make strategy harder.”
Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas, however, had a disappointing final session and he will start from eighth on the grid. For Ferrari, Charles Leclerc qualified in fourth. It will give the team a huge boost in the Sunday’s race. However, his teammate Carlos Sainz failed to make it into the final session of qualifying and will start 11th on the grid.
Earlier in the day, Verstappen was at a different level. He posted the fastest time in the final practice as the Red Bull driver was nearly half a second faster than the entire pack.
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