Lewis Hamilton is a Formula 1 superstar who keeps breaking records. And his latest one is just outrageous.
During qualifying Saturday for the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, the Mercedes driver won the pole by just 0.069 seconds at the 3.54-mile Autodromo Nazionale Monza. It marks his sixth pole win in the last seven races and extends his record of poles at the track to seven. But as impressive as those stats are, neither are the big stunner from qualifying.
Hamilton also set the record for the fastest lap ever recorded in F1 history at a whopping average of 164.267 miles per hour (or 264.362 kilometers per hour) with a lap time of one minute, 18.887 seconds.
He broke Kimi Raikkonen’s one-lap record of 163.785 miles per hour — which was set in 2018 also at Monza, also known as the Temple of Speed — and Raikkonen’s track record by .232 seconds.
An average speed of 264.362 kilometres per hour…
Jump aboard for the fastest lap in F1 history! 🔥@LewisHamilton blitzed the Monza track record in Saturday qualifying to take his sixth @pirellisport pole position of 2020 😱#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZWNt8ryiZO
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 5, 2020
Behind Hamilton — who also sits at the top of the driver standings with five wins in eight races — Valtteri Bottas qualified second for an all-Mercedes front row for the Italian Grand Prix, while McLaren’s Carlos Sainz will start third.
“It was not too bad!” said Hamilton after the session. “I’m generally really happy with the actual laps I did. Valtteri was very, very close, pushing. I made some big changes going in to qualifying, so I was a little bit nervous going in that it was the right thing to do but it worked just fine.
“The speeds we’re going through the Lesmos is pretty awesome,” he added. “You are moving around when you get to the low speed sections, so Turns 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, it’s definitely a little bit tricky there. But the rest of it, you’re just trying to gauge how much you try and attack, keep the minimum speed up and make sure you get the exits, because you’ve got these long straights, so it’s trying to find the balance which is not so easy.”
The Italian Grand Prix is Sunday at 9:05 a.m. ET on ESPN2.
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