Tuscan GP / Qualifying: Hamilton conquered first Mugello pole!

There was breaking news in the build-up to the first-ever Tuscan GP. On Thursday Racing Point announced, that they had signed Sebastian Vettel for Aston Martin for 2021. Sebastian's contract is said to cover multiple seasons. Actually Sebastian's new seat has been a "public secret" since May, when Ferrari announced, that Sebastian and the Red Team were to part ways at the end of the season. Signing Sebastian means, that Perez has to leave the team at the end of the 2020 season. It hasn't been confirmed, but most probably it's Lance Stroll, who lines up with Sebastian for Aston Martin. It's not only the team's name but also its colour changes from pink to dark green. At the moment I don't have a single green garment in my wardrobe! But I guess I will pretty soon... ;)

This weekend marks the very first time, that Mugello hosts an F1 race. The Tuscan GP also marks Ferrari's 1000th GP in the history of Formula 1. The first-ever F1 GP took place in Monaco in 1950. To mark this impressive milestone the Red Team run their cars in retro burgundy colour scheme this weekend. 

At the high-speed circuit of Mugello, qualifying was kicked off in hot and sunny conditions. Bottas set the fastest lap time on his first run, but teammate Hamilton was only 0.029s off the pace. Red Bull had struggled heavily at Monza last week, but now they were back on top form. Verstappen in third, however, was six tenths down on the Finnish Mercedes ace. Racing Point showed excellent performance as well, on the contrary to the Scuderia drivers, who were still struggling with their missing pace. Even Williams' Latifi made it ahead of Sebastian, who was in poor P15. Charles managed to extract a little more out of his burgundy-coloured SF1000, but he, too was 1.2s off the pace. Kimi seemed to enjoy the challenge offered by the Mugello circuit; the Iceman jumped 9th at the end of Q1. Albon in his RB16 put together a smooth lap, moving up to P4. Sebastian was the last driver to make it into Q2, whilst teammate Charles made it in promising P6. Monza hero Gasly was unexpectedly the first driver to be knocked out of Q2! The Frenchman missed out on the second session by five hundredths of a second only. Kimi's teammate Giovinazzi was out, too, alongside with the Williams duo of Russell and Latifi and Haas' Magnussen.

Because the soft tyre provided for Mugello was the C3 compound instead of the softest C2 version, everyone opted for the above-mentioned compound in Q2. The tables turned in terms of the Mercedes teammates, as now it was Hamilton, who set the benchmark by 0.013 seconds. This time Verstappen managed to make it a little closer to the Silver Arrows, as the flying Dutchman was 0.162s down on Hamilton. The Mugello circuit really seemed to bring the best out in the RB16, as Albon was again fourth fastest. The first flyer saw Charles in P7 and Sebastian in P13. Kimi made his first run on the used set of soft Pirellis, and the Iceman was in P14. Sebastian did everything he could to improve his lap time on his last attempt, but he had no choice but to take P14 as the result, as Kimi managed to improve his lap time on his final run. The gap between the ex teammates was teeny tiny four thousandths of a second! P13 is the highest grid slot, that Kimi has reached this season, so there is some improvement in terms of Alfa Romeo's performance. Charles, on the other hand, made it among the top ten, being a second off Mercedes' pace. It was a bit surprising to see half a second separating the red-suited drivers. Out of the final segment were also McLaren's Norris, AlphaTauri's Kvyat and Haas' Grosjean. 

The only question ahead of the last session was, which one of the Mercedes drivers would take pole. Hamilton clocked an impressive banker lap, claiming provisional pole, again by some hundredths of a second only. The Red Bull drivers had a grab on the second row; Verstappen was third and teammate Albon fourth. Racing Point's Stroll in fifth was 1.2s down already. Charles made his first run on a used set of softs, ending up massive 2.5 seconds off the pace. Unfortunately the second runs turned into an anticlimax. At the closing stages of Q3 the wind had picked up, and Hamilton proved unable to improve his lap time. Thanks to a flying last sector, Verstappen managed to improve his lap time by a tenth. However, Renault's Ocon pushed too hard on his last run and span, bringing out the yellow flags. This forced Bottas to lift off, which meant no chance to challenge his teammate for pole. Charles was the driver to benefit most of Ocon's incident, and the Monegasque qualified as high as P5. In current circumstances it was a great way to mark the Red Team's significant milestone. The "pink Mercedes" by Perez and Stroll qualified sixth and seventh. However, they will start to the race in reversed order, as Perez has been given a 1-place grid penalty due to his collision with Kimi in FP2. McLaren's Sainz in P9 was sandwiched by the Renault duo of Ricciardo and Ocon.

I love the nature of the Mugello circuit; it's an old-school circuit with no run-off areas. It doesn't forgive you your mistakes; if you push too much to the limit, you will get stuck on the gravel. The G-forces are high and the tyre degradation is a key factor. I hope to see as eventful race tomorrow as last weekend! Always wishing the best for Sebastian (+ Max and Kimi)!