Hamilton’s pole lap ‘not from this world’ but race day will be tougher

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said Lewis Hamilton’s pole lap was “not from this world” after he dominated Q3 in a soggy Styria.

Despite having Max Verstappen nibbling at his heels in the first two parts of qualifying, the world champion went into overdrive with his final two laps to claim pole by 1.2s in the tricky conditions.

Though this was only the third largest margin by which Hamilton has claimed pole in Formula 1, his two others also coming in the wet, Wolff was simply astonished by how he could be so far ahead.

“Very rarely do you see performances that are just not from this world,” he said afterwards. “When you look at the onboard of his lap, he was balancing the car on the edge, aquaplaning, throttle control was incredible.

“I can’t remember that I have seen 1.2 seconds between first and second.

“I think driver and car merge into one, where a perfect car with the tyres in the right window, and perfect driveability on the power unit come together with skill and intelligence of the racing driver.

“Only then do you see this kind of performance.”

On Sunday, however, conditions are expected to be dry and that means Verstappen and Red Bull will be a major threat.

“Tomorrow is a very different story, just because of the weather. It will be dry, but not as hot as yesterday,” the Austrian added.

“Max is in the front row, so anything is possible. He can win the race. Valtteri has to try to get past Sainz. The McLarens were really good, just like last week.”

Also Read:

• Hamilton confident of strong Sunday after satisfying pole in Styria
• Hamilton on Red Bull mind games: ‘I guess they’ll eventually learn’
• Verstappen hopes rain and ‘cautious’ Mercedes boost Styrian GP chances

There’s also fears that Mercedes will have to tell their drivers to take it easy over the kerbs to look after the car after the problems seen last weekend.

“Well there will be laps where you have no chance of not using them,” said Wolff. “Whether Max is leading or behind us, just cruising around neatly avoiding the kerbs is not going to be possible.

“It’s about constant massacring the suspension that is something that will cause us a headache, so once we have settled in our positions, then we will be trying to avoid the kerbs. It’s a very Austria-specific topic.”