F1: Spanish Grand Grand Prix, Hamilton Takes the Pole

$RACE, $LMCA

On the Top of the Grid Sunday: Hamilton, Bottas, Vettel, Raikkonen, Verstappen & Riccardo

Lewis Hamilton set the newly surfaced Barcelona track record 2X Saturday afternoon to a record-extending 74th Pole position.

“We always want to push the boundaries, and one of the exciting things this year is that we are breaking records,” said Mr. Hamilton just after a lap of 1min 16.173sec, 3 secs faster than the time he set in claiming Pole at the Circuit de Catalunya last year. “So, in future, we should be at least as fast as we have been this year.”

That, a quip at the notion of slowing down the cars in the future in an attempt to make this Tier 1 motorsport more democratic or politically correct by its new American owners Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LMCA).

For my money, I want to see the cars faster and louder!

Ferrari’s (NYSE:RACE) Sebastian Vettel will seek to close a 4-point deficit to Mr. Hamilton in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

While Mr. Hamilton had a good race with Mr. Vettel in Barcelona last year, he put up a super performance in qualifying Saturday, with a near-flawless lap to edge out MercedesAMG team-mate Valtteri Bottas on the front row. It is “what I needed” he said.

All 3 Top teams look very quick Saturday.

Lewis Hamilton had enough pace to take the Pole, ending Ferrari’s run of 3 straight Pole positions.

Note: Drivers starting on the front row have won 25 of the 27 Grands Prix at Barcelona.

We’ll be back tomorrow at around 1pm for all the build-up, live updates and reactions for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Spanish Grand Prix qualifying results:

1. Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1mins 16.173secs
2. Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:16.213
3. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:16.305
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:16.612
5. Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:16.816
6. Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1:16.818
7. Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:17.676
8. Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:17.721
9. Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:17.790
10. Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:17.835
11. Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 1:18.323
12. Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:18.463
13. Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India 1:18.696
14. Charles Leclerc (Mon) Sauber-Ferrari 1:18.910
15. Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 1:19.098
16. Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:18.923
17. Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:19.493
18. Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams 1:19.695
19. Lance Stroll (Can) Williams 1:20.225
20. Brendon Hartley (Nzl) Scuderia Toro Rosso No Time

Tune in Sunday and enjoy the racing.

  Bottas, Ferrari, Grand, Hamilton, LMCA, MercedesAMG, pole, Prix, race, Spanish, Sunday, Vettel

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Paul Ebeling

Paul A. Ebeling, polymath, excels in diverse fields of knowledge. Pattern Recognition Analyst in Equities, Commodities and Foreign Exchange and author of “The Red Roadmaster’s Technical Report” on the US Major Market Indices™, a highly regarded, weekly financial market letter, he is also a philosopher, issuing insights on a wide range of subjects to a following of over 250,000 cohorts. An international audience of opinion makers, business leaders, and global organizations recognizes Ebeling as an expert.

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