Lewis Hamilton says the lap to secure pole position at the French Grand Prix was almost “one of my best laps for a long time”.
The Briton was simply too quick for teammate Valtteri Bottas as he produced another single lap special to overcome his Mercedes teammate.
It was also a landmark moment as Hamilton secured his 60th pole in 126 races with the Brackley-based team, almost a 50 per cent success rate since the start of 2013.
Speaking afterwards, however, the championship leader admitted it was far from easy.
“In Q1 and Q2, I think Valtteri just had the edge and I was still learning in the car,” he explained. “Once I got to Q3 I knew where I had to find the time and it was about doing it.
“The first lap was fantastic, really happy with it, however, I knew that it was still relatively close and I still needed to find more areas to push and improve so I went out for that second run.
“I was on for one of my best laps that I have done for a long time,” Hamilton added. “I was up four-and-a-half tenths coming into the second to last corner and it was really dusty out there so I lost the back end.”
Also Read:
- Bottas hindered by ‘fine details’ in qualifying fight with Hamilton
- Hamilton takes ‘pride’ in his consistency because ‘every point counts’
The gap to Bottas was 0.3s, but behind only Charles Leclerc was within one full second of his lap record pole time.
Despite that Hamilton played down the thought of feeling “untouchable”.
“I definitely don’t feel untouchable, I never have felt that way,” he said.
“I do feel strong but each time I feel I am starting on the right foot Valtteri puts in really good laps every time so I am constantly being pushed by Valtteri.
“Obviously, the last races it has been a lot closer and some races we as a team are not being pushed as hard as we would like to be by the others.
“Nonetheless the battle within us, it feels in a lot of races it has been down to a tenth or a tenth-and-a-half between Valtteri and me, so I still have my work cut out and still have to perform and deliver.
“The work ethic is exactly the same and the stress is exactly the same as if we were fighting the Ferraris,” Hamilton stated.
“There was pressure on us coming into this season but now I am getting more comfortable with the car and as we get into the season I don’t expect that to stop.”