There seems to be an expectation of Lewis Hamilton routing his teammate at every qualifying session. That was true for much of last season however in 2019 Bottas is determined to get into Hamilton’s face and he did at the one race Hamilton covets above all others. The British Grand Prix. Initially, the Ferraris appeared to have the fastest package, come Q3 team Mercedes AMG suddenly turned up the hype and delivered yet another front row lockout. By the narrowest of margins

It was narrow more so between Mercedes AMG F1 teammates, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was beaten by thousandths of a second and Charles Leclerc was just under a tenth of a second behind Hamilton. Max Verstappen was nearly 4-tenths away, a fine showing for the Honda powered Red Bull.

Sebastian Vettel continues to struggle against his teammate and was over 6-tenths off the pace as 4-times champion continues a mysterious dip in form. The Renault of Daniel Ricciardo was next followed by English rookie drivers Land Norris and Alex Albon.

But it was Bottas who stole the show and silenced the English crowd who expected an imperious Hamilton to deliver pole position without ever breaking into a sweat. But this is qualifying, a short term adrenalin rush for the fastest alpha males on the planet.

The race is where the spoils are divided, where defeat is determined and where the name of the victorious is etched onto the trophy. Sunday will be a close fought battle, at least 4 drivers have the possibility to win.

2019 British Grand Prix: Qualifying Results

Q1 107% time – 1:31.498