“I find it hard to realize, I don't know what I'm supposed to feel,” the Briton kept repeating as he got out of the car. "It's the 100th but I feel like the firsts." "It's something that no one, myself included, would have ever thought I could achieve," marveled the one who clinched his first top position at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, his sixth. only in F1. On Sunday, the Mercedes driver will share the first row on the starting grid with his main rival, the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), beaten by just 36/1000. "I'm happy it's so tight," said the poleman. It's an incredible feeling to cross the line and wonder where we are going to be and if our effort has been enough. It's nerve-rackingfor the fans as well as for us. " Hamilton and Verstappen, just eight points separate at the top of the drivers' standings (to the advantage of the first thanks to two wins against one), anticipate an equally close race, like the first three rounds of 2021. “It's difficult to make predictions, develops the Dutchman. Our pace in long stints is quite decent but that of the Mercedes as well. In addition, it is difficult to overtake here so we will have to see, but I hope we will be as close as today. ”“It is difficult to make predictions, develops the Dutchman. Our pace in long stints is quite decent but that of the Mercedes as well. In addition, it is difficult to overtake here so we will have to see, but I hope we will be as close as today. ”“It is difficult to make predictions, develops the Dutchman. Our pace in long stints is quite decent but that of the Mercedes as well. In addition, it is difficult to overtake here so we will have to see, but I hope we will be as close as today. ”
Bicentenary very close
His British opponent has a definite advantage: during 22 GP out of 30 on the Barcelona-Catalonia circuit, the winner started from pole!
In the remaining eight, only three winners were not in the front row.
The least well placed, the Spaniard Fernando Alonso in 2013, was 5th.
The end result "could be played at pit stops, between those who will make two and those who will do only one", concludes the Finnish teammate of Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, 3rd in qualifying.
And if the seven-time world champion, in search of a record eighth world crown, were to win, he would approach a little closer to his bicentenary: the Mercedes driver indeed has 97 GP successes to his clock, the first in Canada in 2007.
Alongside Bottas, it is the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) who will start in the second row. The third goes to the French Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and the Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari). Next come Australian Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), 7th in qualifying, Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), 8th, Briton Lando Norris (McLaren), 9th, and Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Alpine), 10th. The second French, Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), is only 12th, sandwiched between the Aston Martins of the Canadian Lance Stroll and the German Sebastian Vettel. Among manufacturers, Mercedes, in the lead, scored 18 points more than runner-up Red Bull. It is more linked to the results of their second drivers (Bottas, in place since 2017, and Pérez, who arrived this winter) thatat the intrinsic level of their single-seaters: they are closer than ever, as these qualifications have again demonstrated.
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Hamilton (Mercedes) signs his 100th pole position at the Spanish GP