The world champion gave himself a chance to fight back with a dominant performance to take pole in qualifying for Saturday’s sprint race, yet even that may not be secure. “Let’s go,” a determined sounding Hamilton said as he took the pole. Hamilton trails Verstappen by 19 points with four meetings and 107 points remaining. If Verstappen wins on Sunday he can afford to finish second to Hamilton in the remaining three races and still take the title. Verstappen set his final lap first and, a little edgy, lost time in the first sector while Hamilton found even more, finishing with 1min 07.934sec and clear daylight to the Dutchman. Hamilton needs pole and victory in Saturday’s sprint to secure every point he can and minimise his grid drop on Sunday.

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