The Mercedes driver was already the record holder by a massive margin, with retired Ferrari great Michael Schumacher second on the list with 68. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen qualified on the front row alongside the championship-leading Hamilton, who has an eight-point advantage over the Dutch driver. 

Valtteri Bottas qualified third for Mercedes. “I feel very humble and grateful. I am ecstatic, like it is my first,” said Hamilton after the session at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. Mercedes’s domination in Spain continued, with the champions on pole in every race at the circuit since the now-retired Nico Rosberg began the sequence in 2013. 

“I can’t believe that we are at 100. It is down to the men and women back at the factory who are continuously raising the bar,” said Hamilton, who will be chasing a record-extending 98th career win on Sunday. 

Hamilton, who took his first pole with McLaren in 2007, had set the fastest time of one minute, 16.741 seconds with his first flying lap of the final phase and was unable to improve on it. It looked like the 36-year-old had been slowed by Sergio Perez spinning his Red Bull ahead, but there were no yellow warning flags.