<p>Lewis Hamilton maintained the momentum from last week's stunning win in Brazil to claim pole for the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix after qualifying on Saturday.</p>.<p>Max Verstappen, who leads his Mercedes rival by 14 points with three races to go, will start alongside Hamilton on the front row on Sunday.</p>.<p>But the gap will give all at Red Bull a restless night - almost half a second, a clear sign Hamilton's new engine fitted last weekend has injected fresh life into his quest for an unprecedented eighth world title.</p>.<p>His flying lap time of 1min 20.827 that clinched Qatar's first ever pole position proved too much for Verstappen, who was 0.455sec slower.</p>.<p>Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas posted the third quickest time under floodlights at the Losail circuit to fill the second row with Pierre Gasly for Alpha Tauri.</p>.<p>Mercedes were handed an unexpected advantage in their titanic title battle with Red Bull after Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez failed to make it to the Q3 top 10 shoot out.</p>.<p>With the Mexican down in the sixth row on Sunday's grid Red Bull's tactics to upset Mercedes rest on a one-man band named Verstappen.</p>.<p>This was Hamilton's 102nd career pole but his first since Hungary almost four months ago.</p>.<p><strong>Check out latest DH videos here</strong></p>
<p>Lewis Hamilton maintained the momentum from last week's stunning win in Brazil to claim pole for the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix after qualifying on Saturday.</p>.<p>Max Verstappen, who leads his Mercedes rival by 14 points with three races to go, will start alongside Hamilton on the front row on Sunday.</p>.<p>But the gap will give all at Red Bull a restless night - almost half a second, a clear sign Hamilton's new engine fitted last weekend has injected fresh life into his quest for an unprecedented eighth world title.</p>.<p>His flying lap time of 1min 20.827 that clinched Qatar's first ever pole position proved too much for Verstappen, who was 0.455sec slower.</p>.<p>Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas posted the third quickest time under floodlights at the Losail circuit to fill the second row with Pierre Gasly for Alpha Tauri.</p>.<p>Mercedes were handed an unexpected advantage in their titanic title battle with Red Bull after Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez failed to make it to the Q3 top 10 shoot out.</p>.<p>With the Mexican down in the sixth row on Sunday's grid Red Bull's tactics to upset Mercedes rest on a one-man band named Verstappen.</p>.<p>This was Hamilton's 102nd career pole but his first since Hungary almost four months ago.</p>.<p><strong>Check out latest DH videos here</strong></p>