Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton claims pole position for inaugural Qatar Grand Prix
FirstpostMax Verstappen, who leads his Mercedes rival by 14 points with three races to go, will start alongside Hamilton on the front row on Sunday. Doha: Lewis Hamilton maintained the momentum from last week’s stunning win in Brazil to claim pole for the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix after a “really sweet” qualifying lap on Saturday. His flying lap time of 1min 20.827 that clinched Qatar’s first ever pole position proved way beyond Verstappen, who was 0.455sec slower. Perez was not wrong when he ventured: “It’s going to be a very tricky race.” This was Hamilton’s 102nd career pole but his first since Hungary almost four months ago. With his Dutch arch-rival out to beat him to the first corner Hamilton said: “It is a decent run into Turn 1, which is wide so I will give it everything.” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “We’ve got an opportunity down on the run to Turn 1 tomorrow.