Valtteri Bottas has taken pole position at COTA with a new lap record of 1:32:029 ahead of the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull's Max Verstappen with just under a tenth of a second separating the Top 3.
Qualifying 1:
It was a very tricky session for most drivers as they found it difficult to adapt to the bumpy surface of the track.
Turn 1 Turn 9 and Turn 19 were the area where everyone struggling to either stay within track limits or avoid locking up the tyres.
McLaren's Lando Norris was the surprise pace setter in Q1 as he put in a lap-time of 1:33:353 on the soft tyres in the latter part of the session.
Sergio Perez didn't bother to do much running as the Mexican driver will start tomorrow's race from the pit-lane after being given a penalty.
His teammate, Lance Stroll however put in a decent effort and got himself in Q2 which has been a rare sight this season for the Canadian driver.
It was not an ideal session for Alfa Romeo as both Kimi and Giovinazzi couldn't put in a lap good enough for Q2. Raikkonen messed up his final run and was outqualified by his Italian teammate.
Elimination Zone Q1:
Antonio Giovinazzi
Kimi Raikkonen
George Russell
Sergio Perez
Robert Kubica
Qualifying 2:
Red Bull got their mojo back after Q1 and were right up there with Mercedes and Ferrari with Verstappen just seven hundredths off Hamilton on medium tyres as his teammate Alex Albon set the quickest time on the red striped tyres softs.
Leclerc even with the Spec 2 Ferrari engine was keeping up with his teammate as the two Ferraris finished the session 1-2.
Renault were aiming for a good result and Daniel Ricciardo after being in the drop-zone at the end of the first runs, put in a lap good enough for the top ten shoot-out Knocking out his teammate in the process.
Haas could not get into the Q3 at their home event with Magnussen and Grosjean settling for P12 and P15 respectively.
Elimination Zone Q2:
Nico Hulkenberg
Kevin Magnussen
Danill Kvyat
Lance Stroll
Romain Grosjean
Qualifying 3:
It was set to be a battle between the top 3 teams in the final part of qualifying. Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel went head to head on their first runs with just 0.12 separating them.
Hamilton was bit off the pace in 5th place with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and Red Bull of Max Verstappen ahead of him.
The McLarens continued their good form finishing the session P7 and P8 courtesy of
Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.
No one improved massively on their final runs. Vettel remained P2 and Hamilton also aborted his lap which meant Valtteri Bottas went on to claim his fifth pole position of the season with only a tenth separating the Top 4.
Final Classification:
Race will be live at 12:00 AM on September 4th, Pakistan Standard Time (PKT)
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