Tuscan GP: Hamilton takes pole, LeClerc fifth for Ferrari’s 1000th race

Mugello (Italy), Sep 12 (IANS) Lewis Hamilton on Saturday took pole with his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas left ruing yellow flags that gives him a second place start ahead of the Tuscan Grand Prix at Mugello.

Bottas led in Q1 before led the second session, which was also the first that the Brit led this weekend.

Hamilton set the pace in Q3 and Bottas still having one more run, Renault’s Esteban Ocon’s crash forced yellow flags, thus forcing much of the field to back off. It meant that Hamilton remained on pole, the 95th of his career, with a time of 1:15.144 while Bottas starts behind him with 1:15.203.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third and his team mate Alex Albon was nearly 0.5 seconds clear of him at fifth. Charles LeClerc ensured that Ferrari have a car in the top five of the grid on their historic 1000th Formula 1 race. His team mate and four-time champion Sebastian Vettel however couldn’t make it past Q2 and will start 14th.

Sergio Perez outperformed Lance Stroll for Racing Point to take sixth spot but the Mexican will start behind the latter due to a one-place penalty for his collision with Kimi Raikkonen in practice.

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo went eighth quickest, ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz with Ocon – who didn’t set a lap time in Q3 courtesy of his spin – rounding out the top 10. Italian GP winner Pierre Gasly bowed out in Q1 struggling with understeer in his Alpha Tauri. He starts 16th on the grid.

–IANS

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