MUGELLO, Italy — Lewis Hamilton outran his Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, to earn his 95th Formula One pole position during qualifying Saturday for the inaugural Tuscan Grand Prix at the Mugello Circuit.
Bottas had topped the charts all weekend, but Hamilton stepped up his game in the second qualifying session to lead the session. He remained quickest in the final session, turning a lap of 1:15.144 to top Bottas’ lap of 115.203.
It was Hamilton’s 69th pole for Mercedes.
“It’s been a really, really tough weekend if I’m really honest,” Hamilton said. “Valtteri was quicker than me all day yesterday and even this morning, and even in Q1! So I’ve been working so hard in the background to try and improve on my lines, improve on the set-up, and with the engineers, we did such a great job.
“It’s always incredibly hard to beat Valtteri,” Hamilton added. “Straight from the get-go this weekend, Valtteri’s had the upper hand… Valtteri had been quick all day yesterday, quick this morning, quick in Q1, and it was almost like nothing I did [worked] – I was making all these changes, changed a lot in the set-up.”
Bottas ended up second on the charts.
Red Bull teammates Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon swept the second row, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounding out the top five.