Lewis Hamilton simply didn’t get it together in Q3 as he was comprehensively beaten by Valtteri Bottas in Spanish GP qualifying.
The reigning champion had looked a strong favourite for pole after his teammate had spun off in final practice and lost half an hour as a result.
But when it mattered, a poor first lap left the Briton six-tenths off the pace, which he wouldn’t be able to recover as the track slowed down for the final run.
“Firstly, Valtteri did a fantastic job. He’s been quick all weekend,” Hamilton commented on the grid post-session.
“I think, on my side, I just didn’t put the laps together. The last couple of laps, were, in Q3 particularly, just weren’t strong. I had to go out early because I came in too early.
“So I had to go out, first, ahead of everyone. Ultimately, it just wasn’t a good enough job.”
Also Read:
- Bottas praises ‘completely different’ Mercedes compared to testing
- Hamilton feels an engineer swap is a factor in Bottas’ 2019 improvement
- Bottas: The ‘opportunity’ to beat Hamilton makes him my preferred teammate
On the flip side, Saturday’s defeat does give Lewis a little extra motivation to stop Bottas claiming a second straight win in the race.
“I’ll be giving it everything,” he promised. “It’s great for the team to have this 1-2, so we’ll try and convert that into another 1-2 [tomorrow] and if we can reverse it I’ll be happy.”
In typical Finnish style, Bottas wasn’t full of words after his third pole of the season but was very satisfied by the pace of his Mercedes.
“By the time [we got to] Q3, it was just getting better and better,” he said of the W10. “I really enjoyed the adrenaline rush you get from driving those laps so I’m very pleased.
“Practice 3 was difficult obviously with the spin, so I just forgot that and moved on.
“It’s started well, the season, and the way I hoped for. I feel better and better in the car so I look forward to tomorrow.”
