Bottas beats Hamilton to pole as Ferrari endures dismal qualifying

Valtteri Bottas secured pole position for the opening race of the 2020 Formula One season, beating teammate Lewis Hamilton to pole position by 0.012s.

Bottas secured pole despite sliding off the track an into the gravel on his final flying lap, just as Hamilton was on a faster lap behind. Despite yellow flags coming out to warn Hamilton about the incident, they did not appear to obstruct Hamilton's progress and the reigning champion lost the majority of his time to his teammate running wide in the final sector.

Max Verstappen secured third on the grid in the Red Bull with a lap time 0.538s off Bottas, but could have a strategic advantage by starting on the medium compound tyres while the…