Hamilton, timed the one minute 27.760 second lap to perfection, pumping it in on the super-soft tyres, while it was only just spitting with rain to take his 80th pole
Hamilton with his reward after winning pole in Tokyo. Pic/AFP
Lewis Hamilton got his timing spot on in changing conditions to take pole position on Saturday for the Japanese GP, even as under-pressure title-rival Sebastian Vettel was all at sea in ninth.
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Hamilton, timed the one minute 27.760 second lap to perfection, pumping it in on the super-soft tyres, while it was only just spitting with rain to take his 80th pole. Valtteri Bottas, who was on pole ahead of Hamilton at the last race in Russia, guaranteed Mercedes a second successive front-row lock out with a lap 0.299 seconds off Hamilton's pace.
"The team have done an amazing job across this weekend. It's so difficult when the pressure is on to make the right call and the call that we made for Q3 was probably the most difficult call," said Hamilton.
Vettel and Ferrari haven't had an answer to Hamilton's pace all weekend, with the Briton completing a clean sweep of practice. The four-time champion, who trails Hamilton by a hefty 50 points and needs a miracle to reignite his title challenge, was caught out by Ferrari's decision to use intermediate tyres during the final part of qualifying, with the threat of rain increasing. In the end, he had only one shot at a flying lap after running wide on his first attempt on dry tyres, but the rain came before he could set a competitive time.
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