Hamilton takes 92nd pole

BARCELONA • Lewis Hamilton admitted he was wary of Red Bull this weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix, and doing his homework helped him run away with his 92nd career pole yesterday to put himself in prime position for today's race.

The Mercedes driver, who also secured his 150th front-row start, beat teammate Valtteri Bottas at the Circuit de Catalunya by 0.059sec in a one-two for the German outfit. It was a record 68th front-row lockout for the team.

"Physically it's tough," said six-time world champion Hamilton, who has won the last three Spanish Grands Prix.

"It's so fast round here, so the forces through your body are pretty intense. Then you're just trying to manage the tyres on your laps.

"The first lap was decent, which did the job thankfully. I was here with the guys until 10pm last night just looking through the details, and seeing where we can get better for the race. These Red Bulls are super fast."

Bottas was disappointed by the mere margin in missing out on pole, but he believes that he has what it takes to get ahead of Hamilton today.

He said: "I knew it was going to be close with Lewis, as always. I was improving throughout the session, especially in sector three, but it wasn't quite enough. It's a long way down to Turn 1 tomorrow and I'll be trying to get there first."

Red Bull's Max Verstappen - who is second in the standings, 30 points behind Hamilton (107) - will start in third place, with Sergio Perez lining up fourth for Racing Point on his return after missing two races due to Covid-19.

"It's the maximum we can do at the moment," admitted Verstappen. "I just hope we can be a bit closer in the race. In the long runs, we didn't look so bad.

"I know it's very hard to overtake around here but we're going to do everything we can to be close to them and make it difficult."

Racing Point's Lance Stroll was fifth, with Alex Albon taking sixth place in the second Red Bull.

1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes

2 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes

3 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull

4 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point

5 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point

6 Alex Albon (Tha) Red Bull

7 Carlos Sainz (Esp) McLaren

8 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren

9 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari

10 Pierre Gasly (Fra) AlphaTauri

11 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari

13 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault

14 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo

Carlos Sainz was seventh, ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly of Alpha Tauri.

Sebastian Vettel, who is having "one of the most difficult mental challenges of his career at the moment" according to former champion Nico Rosberg, qualified 11th.

The German is in his final season with Ferrari.

Off the track, Toto Wolff is considering his future as Mercedes team chief beyond the end of this year when his contract expires.

The Austrian, who has guided Mercedes to unprecedented success since taking over as chief executive officer in 2014, later becoming team principal, admitted his role takes a heavy toll and he was reflecting on his position.

"I enjoy what I do," he said.

"There is no better place than to be in a meeting room with the engineers, or to sit in the garage and watch the great work that is happening around. Many factors make me want to stay, but it takes its toll. There is no reason not to continue. We will find out in which role."

Hamilton has yet to agree or sign a contract to stay with Mercedes in 2021 and beyond.

He has said he wants clarity on Wolff's future before he makes a commitment.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

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F1 SPANISH GRAND PRIX

Main race: Singtel TV Ch114 & StarHub Ch208, 8pm