Lewis Hamilton once again underlined his overwhelming class as Formula 1's꧃ wet-weather master as he stormed to a sensational pole position during qualifying for the Styrian Grand Prix. 

Hamilton was under pressure and in need of a response after losing early ground to Mercede🏅s teammate Valtteri Bottas in the title race following the Finn’s victory at the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix last time out, and he bounced back emphatical🔯ly at the second consecutive race to be held in Spielberg. 

The six-times world champion charged to his first pole position of the delayed 2020 season - and the 89th of his F1 career - in a qualifying session which was initially delay💟ed by 45 minutes due to the heavy rain and thunderstorms which hit the Red Bull Ring in Austria on Saturday.

Hamilton has topped nine ღof the previous 13 wet qualifying sessions but the dominant nature of his per🍃formance in Austria amid treacherous conditions might just make this his most impressive. 

The Briton looked untouchable throughout and utterly crushed his opposition. Max Verstappen, another driver who excels in the we༒t, ultimately had no answer and was a full 1.216s adrift in his Red Bull after spinning on his final flying lap in Q3.

Ham𝓀ilton had already posted a lap good enough for pole by seven-tenths when he set about a further improvement on his last run, remarkably finding an additional four-tenths. 

Granted, car performance is a big factor behind success and Mercedes’ W11 challenger looks the class o♑f the field this year in terms of grip of stability, but wet weather often takes away some of that performance advantage, placing greater emphasis on raw driver skill in the toughest of circumstances. 

Hamilton’s supreme display was e🍃mphasised further by the fact Bottas - in the same Mercedes machinery 🎃- wound up 1.428s slower in fourth place.  

Hamilton said he had his “heart in his mouth” on his final flying lap which he described as being “close to perfect”, while he drew comparisons to his much-lauded performance at the British Gran🏅d Prix at Silverstone in 2008. 

"It was a fantastic lap, the ꦿlast one," Hamilton explained.

"I think [it was] just th𒆙e importance of managing your time out there, managing your battery pack, knowing when to use the few laps that you have on the qualifying modes, creating the gap, [and] not making a mistake when it counts.

"That last lap for me was really as close to perfect as I could re𒈔ally g♚et in those conditions.

"Consider🍸ing it was raining more, it makes me even 🍃happier knowing that we could go a bit quicker during that time.

"It definitely takes me back ꦺto times like Silverstone 2008, because when you're really at one with the car and not fazed at all, and just being very dynamic with your driving style from corner to corner.

"The wet patches arrive, and the puddles are shifting about with the cars that arไe driving ahead of you, which is a massive challenge.”

Mercedes F1 team boss Toto Wolff heaped prai🌃se on Hamilton, calling his performance “not from this world”. 

"Very rarely do you see performances that are♏ just not from this world," W𝔉olff explained. 

"When you look at the onboard of his lap, he was balancing the car on the🙈 edge, aquaplaning, 𒐪throttle control was incredible.

"I can't remember that I have ♑seen 1.2ౠ seconds between first and second.” 

Sainz, Ocon and Russell impress

After his teammate’s Lando Norris’ heroics last weekend, it was Carlos Sainz’s turn to grab the headlines this time for McLaren. The Spaniard “risked everything” in order to secure his best-ever F1 starting position of༺ third thanks to a brilliant lap that was just one-tenth shy of earning a spot on the front-row. 

McLaren’s MCL34 emerged as one of the strongest packages in the wet as both drivers qualified♑ inside the top 10 (though Norris has a three-place grid drop looming), acting as yet more encouragement   for the Woking squad which has made a strong start to the season. 

Esteban Ocon made the most of the conไditions to grab an excellent fifth for Renault as he outqualified teammate Daniel Ricciardo for the first time, and by a margin of three-tenths of a second to boot. P5 marks Ocon’s highest-starting position since he impressed with third place in a damp qualifying 🔴for the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix. 

Williams’ promising progress continued as George Russell gave the team its first Q2 appearance since Brazil 2018 with a fant𒀰astic effort. 

The Briton had already set the 12th-fastest time 🎉in Q1 and went🎃 even better in Q2, posting a lap that was just 0.009s slower than Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. 

After Russe🦹ll impressed with his v🍌irtual racing abilities during the enforced break, a much-improved Williams is now enabling him to show glimpses of his superstar potential in the real-world. 

Wet qualifying dampens Ferrari’s spirits

Ferrari had hoped for a better showing second time round in Austria after bringing forward an aerodynamic package upgrade wh♏ich was originally intended for Hungary.&nb🔯sp;

But even the wet weather coul🍌dn’t help improve its prospects as the Scuderia’s struggles continued in qualifying.&nb✤sp;

Sebastian Vettel just scraped through into the top-10 shootout but could only round out the Q3 runners in another disappointin𒐪g performance, while Leclerc was frustrated to have only set the 11th-fastest time. 

The bad news continued꧋ for Ferrar💜i after the session finished when Leclerc was slapped with a three-place grid penalty for impending AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat, dropping him to 14th for Sunday’s race. 

Asked if he expected Ferrari to perform bet♛ter in the wet conditions, Vettel replied:🎉 “Honestly, yes.

"It was a difficult session for us. We struggled to get the tyres t🎀o work and now we have to have a good look to see why. I had lots of aquaplaning in particular at the end of Q2 a♉nd in Q3 as well.

"So not ideal. We need to make sure we learn the maximum we can from this session and take it into the next wet session. Tomorrow should be dry which is a b♓it different. We fight and try everything we can tomorrow.''