Lewis Hamilton: “My last two laps were the good ones”

The “Hammer Time” worked perfectly this Saturday in Q3 in qualifying for the French Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton maneuvered perfectly to claim an 86th career pole, despite complicated weather conditions.

“The wind was back and it was blowing a lot of gusts, so we had to be dynamic in how we attacked on the track, analyzes the world champion. I kept a little too much speed in the last corner and the wind disrupted the rear end. »

Nothing to change the final hierarchy of the decisive session, Hamilton once again improving his time and beating Valtteri Bottas, yet incisive since the weekend kicked off.

“Valtteri has been fast since the start of the weekend, but my last two laps were the right ones, underlines the Briton. In the final attempt, I had a half-second lead but lost it in the last two turns. I'm really happy to have exploited the potential of the car.

It was very hot on the track, 55-60° on the asphalt, and it's always a challenge with your tires to optimize everything and extract everything you can. We have improved the settings step by step. In Q1 and Q2, Valtteri had the pace.

In Q3, my first lap was fantastic, and I was happy. We were so close with Valtteri from practice until the start of qualifying. The most important thing is not to have missed the first lap in Q3, but the second lap was going in the right direction, but I let go a little at the end, while nevertheless improving. »