Valtteri Bottas beats Lewis Hamilton to Azerbaijan F1 GP pole

0
9
- Advertisement -

• Mercedes pair lock out front row ahead of Sebastian Vettel
• Charles Leclerc crashes out in Q2 in other Ferrari

Tiny margins proved the differential in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where Valtteri Bottas rode the knife’s edge to take pole but, in stark contrast, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc pushed too hard and paid the price. Bottas took the top spot with a superb lap in front of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in second. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel could manage only third and with his teammate Leclerc crashing out, the Scuderia were left once again licking their wounds as Mercedes made it count when it mattered.

Ferrari had been expected to perform strongly this weekend and had been on top throughout practice – with a huge second and half advantage in FP3 – but their threat failed to materialise in a session that lasted two hours due to accidents. Leclerc, a hugely promising talent, was one of them in his first major error of the season. He took too much speed into the tight turn eight, locked-up and hit the barriers. Ferrari may question whether the medium tyres they gave him for that run in Q2 cost him grip.

Continue reading…

Written by Giles Richards
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/apr/27/valtteri-bottas-beats-lewis-hamilton-azerbaijan-f1-gp-pole under the title “Valtteri Bottas beats Lewis Hamilton to Azerbaijan F1 GP pole”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.