Qualifying facts and stats: Why P2 on the grid could make this Hamilton's race

The numbers from qualifying at the Nurburgring underline Mercedes' recent dominance but also show why Lewis Hamilton stands a great chance of winning the race, even though he starts behind polesitter Valtteri Bottas…

• Valtteri Bottas took pole position with a track record of 1m25.269s for his third pole of the year – and that's 16 places higher than he started on his only previous visit to the Nurburgring, for Williams in 2013.

HIGHLIGHTS: Watch all the action from a thrilling qualifying session for the Eifel GP

• That was Mercedes' 72nd front-row lockout and will be the 400th front-row start for a Mercedes-powered car.

• But Lewis Hamilton starts on the front row as well, and the winner at the Nurburgring has come from second on the grid in four of the last five Grands Prix here – including Hamilton in 2011.

• Red Bull's Max Verstappen starts third for the fifth time in the last eight races as he could not end Mercedes' 100% pole record in 2020.

• Charles Leclerc took Ferrari's best qualification since the British Grand Prix, seven races ago.

READ MORE: Leclerc ‘very happy but quite surprised’ as Ferrari upgrades help him to shock P4 at the Nurburgring

• Red Bull's Alex Albon starts in the top five for just the fourth time this season.

• Daniel Ricciardo may be feeling a sense of deja-vu as he qualified sixth for Renault, the same position he qualified here for Toro Rosso on his last visit, in 2013.

• With Lando Norris eighth and McLaren team mate Carlos Sainz 10th, the former driver has managed to outqualify the latter for the first time in six races.

• Sergio Perez was disappointed with P9 for Racing Point and this was his worst qualifying performance in the dry this season.

READ MORE: 'It was even crazier than last time!' – Hulkenberg describes mad dash to Nurburgring for latest sub appearance

• Sebastian Vettel couldn't match Leclerc and the Ferrari veteran missed out on Q3 for the seventh consecutive race, as he starts 11th. Vettel, of course, is the last winner of a Grand Prix at this venue.

• Pierre Gasly (12th) outqualified AlphaTauri team mate Daniil Kvyat for the ninth time in 11 races. Kvyat has been 11th or 12th on the grid for the last five races but starts 13th on Sunday.

• Antonio Giovinazzi managed a best qualification of 2020 with 14th for Alfa Romeo; Kimi Raikkonen is on the last row for his record-breaking 323rd start.

• Williams mirrored their qualifying performance from their last Nurburgring visit when Bottas started 17th and Pastor Maldonado 18th. This time around, George Russell starts 17th and Nicholas Latifi 18th.

WATCH: 2020 Eifel GP Qualifying – Antonio Giovinazzi escapes Q1 at Nurburgring

• For the 32nd consecutive race, Russell managed to outqualify his team mate.

• Nico Hulkenberg's shock return came as Lance Stroll fell ill and, although he starts last, he only had 10 laps to get to grips with the Racing Point RP20 around here and was just 0.489s from making it to Q2.