Lewis Hamilton admits he was “emotional” after claiming what will be the final pole he takes inside the 2018 Mercedes car in Abu Dhabi.
The Briton made it 11 successes in qualifying this season with another brilliant performance at Yas Marina, moving his career total to 83 in the process.
Given how closely he has worked with his team to optimise the performance of the W09 though, Hamilton acknowledges a little sadness that he won’t get to do another full-attack flying lap again.
“I’m so grateful for all the support we’ve had here,” he said after stepping out the cockpit. “It’s so emotional for me because it’s the last lap I’ll do in this car. I’ve been so emotionally attached to this car.
“I’m so grateful for the mechanics who put this together for me. To just go all out and put a performance like that is a special feeling. I’m just happy that this car will be in the history museum at Mercedes in Germany, so I can go visit whenever I can.
“It’s been a privilege to work in this team with the mechanics who have given it to me. Their diligence I’m so grateful for everyone and it’s so much fun to go out there and express yourself and push your car the way you want.”
His final lap, a new lap record of 1m34.794s, was also another example of Hamilton finding the near-maximum that is possible, as he made up half a second on his first attempt to beat teammate Valtteri Bottas.
“I never say there is a perfect lap the first one wasn’t spectacular, there were excursions and movement at the rear end the last sector was the killer and it was where I was able to make the difference [ on the second lap], that’s not easy to do,” he claimed.
“Valtteri did a great job and Sebastian [Vettel] too.”