Hamilton’s seventh title is already secured and with it he has equalled Michael Schumacher’s record. His pole in Bahrain was an object demonstration of why the Mercedes driver took the championship this season with three races to spare.

“It has been such an incredible year anything from now is a bonus,” he said. “It’s close between the three of us [Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen] and we have a couple of tricky races ahead, so it’s not something I am thinking about. I will get there eventually and not necessarily in the next two but I will be pushing as hard as I can that’s for sure.”

On top throughout qualifying, Hamilton was indomitable. Finishing with a fine run at the sharp end he beat his Mercedes teammate Bottas into second with Verstappen third for Red Bull.

Hamilton has two previous poles in Bahrain and once more found an immaculate touch at the track. On his first hot run in Q3 he clocked 1min 27.677sec, pushing with consummate control, and while he was quickest believed he could still improve.

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