Contending for thr championship title Lewis Hamilton will begin the Japanese Grand Prix on pole this Sunday after topping qualifying sessioms in Suzuka. The Mercedes-AMG driver broke the track record in Q2 before repeating the same feat again in Q3 earlier today. Hamilton lapped the circuit in 1min 27.319 seconds. Hamilton took his 10th pole for this season and also broke the track record previously set by Michael Schumacher in 2006 by 1.635 seconds.
Meanwhile, Bottas showed some brilliant pace despite mechanical issues and recorded the second fastest time being just three tenths down his teammate. However, a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox replacement means Sebastian Vettel has been promoted to the front row.
(Romain Grosjean from Team Haas crashed into the barriers, ending his qualifying)Red Bull pair Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will form the second row with the Australian posting at tad better time than his teammate. Bottas, on the other hand, will start seventh on the grid.
Interestingly, the Suzuka qualifying has left a lot of drivers with penalties. Apart from Bottas, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen also suffered a crash during free practice 3 that prompted gearbox replacement and has attracted a penalty as well. The Finn qualified sixth. McLaren's Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz and Jolyon Palmer have been hit with penalties as well. A revision in the grid for tomorrow should be announced in sometime.
(Lewis Hamilton took his 10th pole position for the season )Sergio Perez of Force India is also under investigation for apparently impeding Lance Stroll during Q1. For the second week in a row, Romain Grosjean of Haas had a dramatic end to his qualifying session as he crashed into the barriers, prompting a red flag.
The Briton leads the points table with a gap of 34 points over Vettel at present. However, not all is lost for the German. With five races to go, the Ferrari driver has enough time left to make up for lost points. The Suzuka circuit certainly looks exciting for tomorrow. Stay tuned for complete updates.
