Lewis Hamilton Becomes 1st To Achieve A Century Of Poles In F1

Lewis Hamilton again finds himself in pole position in Barcelona where his Mercedes was looking very competitive against the Red Bull. However, this isn't any other pole, this is the 100th pole position for Hamilton who becomes the first F1 driver to achieve the mammoth mark. He was closely followed by Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, followed by Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes.

Hamilton has previously become the record holder for the most pole positions in 2017 after he beat out Michael Schumacher's record of 68 poles. Hamilton also has won 97 races, the most by any driver and has led the most laps by any other driver, while being tied for seven world titles with Michael Schumacher. 

Leclerc qualified in P4 for the third time in 4 races

Lower down the grid, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc again delivered a brilliant qualifying performance elevating the iconic prancing horse to P4. His teammate Carlos Sainz Jr, who is driving his first home GP as a Ferrari driver, was not too far behind in P6. He was split by Alpine's Esteban Ocon in P5. 

Daniel Ricciardo had his best qualifying performance in the McLaren in P7 beating out his younger teammate Lando Norris who managed just P9. Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull was a disappointing P8 while Fernando Alonso, returning to his home race after two years, managed to be in Q3 with P10. 

Max Verstappen managed to split the Mercedes pair who looked like locking out the front row

Aston Martin again had a torrid time with Lance Stroll qualifying in P11 while Sebastian Vettel managed P13. The team from Britain probably would've expected better. Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri qualified in P12 though his teammate Yuki Tsunoda managed a very disappointing P16. Antonio Giovinazzi in the Alfa Romeo qualified in P14 out-qualifying his world championship-winning teammate Kimi Raikkonen who managed P17. 

George Russell again hauled the Williams beyond its capabilities to P15 reflected by the fact his teammate Nicholas Latifi managed just P19. Mick Schumacher in the Haas was again impressive in P18, as he out-qualified his teammate Nikita Mazepin by eight tenths in P20. 

Times

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:16.741
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.036s
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +0.132s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.769s
5 Esteban Ocon Alpine +0.839s
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.879s
7 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +0.881s
8 Sergio Perez Red Bull +0.960s
9 Lando Norris McLaren +1.269s
10 Fernando Alonso Alpine +1.406s
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:17.974
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:17.982
13 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:18.079
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1:18.356
15 George Russell Williams 1:19.154
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:18.556
17 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing1:18.917
18 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:19.117
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:19.219
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas 1:19.807