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Hamilton Takes Third Pole Of Season In Spain

BARCELONA, Spain- Taking advantage of watching the other drivers sustaining fastest times towards the end of the final qualifying session Saturday for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Spain at the Circuit de Catalunya, Lewis Hamilton posted a 1:21:707 fastest lap, to win his third pole this season in five races. Williams pilot Pastor Maldonado finished second for the first time in his young career, while home hero Fernando Alonso took third.

“It was a great pole position for me, and I am very, very happy.” said Hamilton. “It was probably one of the best ones that I have had. All the thanks to the folks in the garage and all the guys at the factory. The upgrades worked fantastically and the car worked great today.”

With the wind picking up quickly from off shore, Hamilton did not have any difficulties by setting the fastest time of 1:22:583, even with the chance of a tailwind assisting him. But the Briton had to wait nearly four minutes as many drivers decided to wait until that first driver could break the ice. The unusual Caterham, Marussia and HRT drivers failed to advance, but also included in the list was Bruno Senna in the Williams, who spun his far on a hot lap on turn 13, knocking the Brazilian with the legendary name, out of the session. Narain Karthekeyan finished outside the 107 percent rule and will have to wait to see if he can race on Sunday.

Maldonado got things going in the second session with his 1:22:105 best time, which was the first time that a Williams has achieved this for seven years. But Mark Webber, Felipe Massa and Jenson Button could not advance due to the fact that they could not get an additional lap with time running out, and failed to advance. Kamui Kobyaschi finished tenth in the session, but could not get his Sauber back to the garage, ending up with a hydraulic failure. The Japanese will start in the same position on race day.

The two Lotus drivers of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen finished in fourth and fifth respectively, while Sergio Perez took sixth in the other Sauber. Nico Rosberg was seventh, while Sebastian Vettel was a disappointing eighth. Michael Schumacher finished a quiet ninth.

Although Hamilton’s victory is his team’s 150 qualifying triumph since its debut over 30 years ago, Hamilton still realized that the race now was the main topic.

“It will be a massively tough race tomorrow.” He stated. “I have two great drivers next to me (referring to Maldonado and Alonso) and I hope that we can put a great show for all the fans.”

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