Hamilton like a fish in water after “a fantastic lap”

Already almost assured of his 89th pole position in career even before the last laps in Q3 at Red Bull Rings, Lewis Hamilton made a point of honor to complete his final effort. And disgusted the competition ahead of the Styrian Grand Prix. 

Certainly, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was about to improve his mark when he came across the Ferrari de Sebastian Vettel in the last sector and slipped, but Hamilton behind him was already improving his provisional pole position. 

POLE! Massive thanks to the team for all their hard work. Full focus on the race tomorrow
.
: @MSI_Images pic.twitter.com/izsvl4qMYS

- Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) July 11, 2020

In the end, the six-time world champion pushes his Dutch rival back more than 1″2, a gulf on a 4,318 kilometer track only. Hamilton has always been very comfortable in the rain and this new show of strength came to remind everyone who thought the driver Mercedes decentralized because of his social and political commitment that he remained a master in the art of handling the hoop.

“The weather was tough but I'm happy that we were able to take part in the qualifying session because I love these kinds of conditions,” smiled the poleman of the day as he got out of the car. Everyone was in the same boat and visibility was very low. You must watch out for differences with others and stay clean at all times. The team gave me the right information when needed. 

I'm happy not to have made any mistakes even though I got really hot during my penultimate flying lap. My heart was in my mouth after experiencing aquaplaning. My last lap was fantastic. I saw myself again at Silverstone in 2008 (impressive victory for Hamilton in the rain, Editor’s note). You have to put a lot of energy behind the wheel and watch out for puddles. I felt in tune with the car ». 

The local weather forecast predicts a GP contested in dry weather on Sunday, i.e. conditions similar to those of the Free Practice. Gold Hamilton was not satisfied with the behavior of his W11 in FP2 and this for an initially unknown reason. The Briton clarified after the qualifying session that Mercedes had identified what was wrong and was therefore approaching the race in a calm state of mind.

“Friday was a complicated day, but the guys combed the car through the garage, analyzed the data, and identified what was wrong. Even if the track had been dry today, we would have been more competitive than yesterday. We are ready for both scenarios tomorrow.”