Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas has scored the pole position for the Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who is chasing his 91st Grand Prix win to equal Michael Schumacher's all-time record. Red Bull's Max Verstappen was looking good for a pole position in Q3, but at the end both the Mercedes cars edged him out. Formula 1 returns to the iconic Nurburgring circuit after seven years amidst challenging weather.
Also Read: Eifel GP Preview: F1 Returns To Nurburgring After A Hiatus Of Seven Years
Surprisingly, Charles Leclerc managed to qualify in P4 in the Ferrari which has been struggling all season. Ferrari brought updates for the Nurburgring which are seemingly working that has allowed the fledgeling driver to equal his best qualifying performance of the season. This improvement didn't convert to his teammate Sebastian Vettel who is in his home race and was the last person to win at the track in 2013. He only managed P11 continuing his struggles with the SF1000.
The Ferrari is looking resurgent
Verstappen's teammate, Alex Albon managed P5 in the Red Bull Honda, while the Renault pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon managed P6 and P7 respectively. Lando Norris was the lead McLaren in P8 while his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr managed P10. Sergio Perez in the Racing Point split the pair marking an underwhelming qualifying session for the British team, which saw its other driver Lance Stroll sit this one out due to an illness. Stroll was replaced by Nico Hulkenberg who stepped in the second time in the season. However, as FP1 and FP2 sessions were cancelled he had limited running time on the track which meant that he could only manage to qualify in a lowly P20.
Christian Horner told reporters on the sidelines of the race that Red Bull's commitment to the sport remained undeterred
Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat in the AlphaTauri cars managed P12 and P13. Antonio Giovinazzi in the Alfa Romeo managed P14 while his teammate Kimi Raikkonen who is set to become the most experienced F1 driver in the history of the sport managed second last on the grid at P19.
The Haas pair of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grojean just managed P15 and P16. The Williams cars of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi managed P17 and P18 respectively.
Overall, the pace of the Red Bull cars is looking good which may mean that Lewis Hamilton may again be thwarted from winning his record-equalling 91st race considering his teammate Bottas has the pole position.
Nurburgring GP Qualifying times
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes - 1m25.269s
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes - +0.256s
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull - +0.293s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari - +0.766s
5 Alex Albon Red Bull - +0.778s
6 Daniel Ricciardo Renault - +0.954s
7 Esteban Ocon Renault - +0.973s
8 Lando Norris McLaren - +1.189s
9 Sergio Perez Racing Point - +1.435s
10 Carlos Sainz McLaren - +1.440s
11 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari - 1m26.738s
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri - 1m26.776s
13 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri - 1m26.848s
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing - 1m26.939s
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas - 1m27.125s
16 Romain Grosjean Haas - 1m27.552s
17 George Russell Williams - 1m27.564s
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams - 1m27.812s
19 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing - 1m27.817s
20 Nico Hulkenberg Racing Point - 1m28.021s
