Hamilton in search of 'last year's special lap' in qualifying

Lewis Hamilton Although he may have laid the first foundations for a new dream weekend in Singapore, the leader of the world championship knows that he will have to fall into trouble again in qualifying on Saturday to ideally put himself in orbit with a view to a 5th personal success in the city-state.

Author of the Friday benchmark at the end of the 23 turns of the endless serpent of luminous asphalt, Hamilton now has his sights fully turned towards the qualifying session where he expects a fierce battle with the Red Bull de Max Verstappen. 

« It was a good day, declared the five-time world champion as he got out of the car. It's always a shock to the body when you get in the car and realize how hot it is. The tour is very long and bumpy. We have completed our entire testing program and continue to improve our car. 

It's been a long time since I felt this good behind the wheel. I hope the feeling continues throughout the weekend. Once you get into the rhythm, it's such a fun circuit to ride. There are still areas for improvement on the car and I can also do better to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and repeat the special lap that we delivered in qualifying last year. 

It's a good start but the Red Bulls look very fast. I don't yet know what their real level is because it seems to me that they were hampered in their best lap. We will study the data to find out more ». 

His teammate and rival Valtteri Bottas for its part had a much less convincing start to the weekend. The Finn was however driving at a good pace in EL1 when he made a mistake and ended up in the wall at turn 19. Bottas was then very discreet in the evening with a time 1'121 slower than the best mark of Hamilton at the end of FP2.

« It was a complicated day with an exit from the track in FP1, recognized the one who currently occupies second place in the Drivers ranking. Before this incident, everything was going well. I lost the rear approaching the corner and on this track, that is unforgiving. This kind of thing can happen. 

In FP2, I don't really know what happened. I lacked rhythm on all the relays and with the three types of rubber. I finished over a second behind but felt like I couldn't go any faster. I felt some friction with management. I guess the car wasn't 100% (after the crash) but we have to see where we can improve ».