Lewis Hamilton claims he was utterly shocked after discovering the massive gap in qualifying to Max Verstappen at the F1 Qatar Grand Prix.

Heading into the Qatar GP, Verstappen only led Hamilton by 19 points—which means Hamilton is definitely within striking range. A race win for either driver would mean massive implications in the next races as the F1 season comes to a close.

Through the F1 practice sessions in Qatar, Verstappen looked quickest during the first session, but was quickly overturned by Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas through the second and third sessions. In anticipation of the qualifying session. Mercedes looked very capable of locking out the front row. 

During the qualifying segment of the F1 Grand Prix weekend, Hamilton displayed a masterclass—leading the grid in each of the three qualifying sesssions. This included blazing hot lap to finish off the session, claiming a very comfortable 0.455s lead on Verstappen to take pole position away from his championship rival. The 7-time world champion revealed that he was as shocked as anyone by the gap he had on Verstappen.

Via Formula 1:

“Of course [I’m surprised by the gap to Red Bull],” Hamilton added. “The same as in the last race. Probably the last three races in qualifying we've been ahead of them, which has been a bit of a surprise and today I definitely wasn't expecting to have as big a gap as that.”

While Hamilton did look unstoppable, it'd be wrong to count out Verstappen in the main race. After all, he still leads the F1 drivers' standings for a reason.