NURBURG, Germany – Valtteri Bottas bested Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to capture the pole for the Formula One Eifel Grand Prix on Saturday at the Nurburgring.
Bottas’ best qualifying lap of 1:25.269, turned during the third and final knockout round, put him more than two tenths clear of Hamilton going into Sunday’s 60-lap race at the 3.199-mile, 15-turn German circuit.
This weekend marks the first Formula One grand prix held at the Nurburgring since 2013.
Bottas’ qualifying performance Saturday netted the 14th pole of his F-1 career, as well as his third of the season and first at the Nurburgring.
“It feels great to be on pole position here and I really enjoyed that session. It’s such a nice feeling when you get it with your last chance in Q3. That final lap was spot on,” said Bottas. “I was struggling a little in the first sector beforehand, but I managed to get it right in the end. Obviously, it was pretty tricky with just one practice session and the cold conditions, so getting the tires in the sweet spot on the out lap was really important and I managed to get them in the window.
“It’s a new day tomorrow and is going to be an interesting race, especially with the lack of running we’ve had here and the temperatures. I’ve only got one goal for tomorrow, so hopefully I can have a good start, and we’ll see what happens from there.”
Behind the two Mercedes runners, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was “best of the rest” after qualifying third with a best lap of 1:25.562. He’ll share the second row of the grid with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who put in an impressive effort to go fourth-quick overall.
The second Red Bull of Alex Albon filled out the top five, followed by the Renault pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon. The McLarens of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz were eighth and 10th, respectively, split by the Racing Point of Sergio Perez.
Four-time F-1 champion Sebastian Vettel was a disappointing 11th, eliminated in Q2, while Nico Hulkenberg was only four tenths away from advancing into Q2 as a last-minute substitute for Lance Stroll despite having no laps in the car prior to qualifying.
Hulkenberg will start from last – 20th – on the grid Sunday at the Nurburgring.
The Eifel Grand Prix starts at 8 a.m. Sunday, with live coverage in the United States on ESPN.