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Lewis Hamilton has explained why he approached Spanish Grand Prix qualifying with “anxiety”, having opted for a set-up “gamble” on his Mercedes in a bid to snatch pole position.
Hamilton trailed championship rival Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in third practice and wasn’t quickest in either Q1 or Q2, but pulled out the best lap of the weekend so far on his opening run in the final segment.
And when neither he nor his main rivals improved on the second attempt, it meant Hamilton got to celebrate his 100th pole in F1, by 0.036s over Verstappen.
“I think we’ve been strong all weekend and I made some changes, I had a bit of anxiety about the changes we were potentially going to make for qualifying – and you are always trying to make the car better, but it’s a bit of a gamble because you’ve also got to keep the race in mind also,” Hamilton explained.
“The set-up that I’d made I had so much understeer. So the car was very lazy, wouldn’t turn the corners the way I want, so you’re waiting and waiting and waiting.
“As soon as I did the first lap I was like, ‘that was not a good change’.”
Hamilton said further tweaks during qualifying – within the limitations of the parc ferme rules – helped him get the car to turn more freely in time for what was his “cleanest lap” in Q3.
When asked whether this lap was befitting of his 100-pole milestone, Hamilton said: “I think it was a great lap – and I think it’s the journey.
“Sometimes you start qualifying and you’re quick from the get go. [Here] I didn’t have the right balance and I was behind. No matter the changes I was making, still slightly behind, still slightly behind, still not quite there.
“I do feel like it was a very clean and precise lap [in Q3] and I guess that’s why I managed to just be ahead of Max. So I’m proud of it, for sure.”
But the imperfect first two segments may have some consequence for Hamilton’s Sunday race, as he’d wound up setting his fastest lap in Q2 on softs that were slightly used – and will therefore have to start on a more worn set than the cars around him.
“There’s no real logic to it, it’s simply that I didn’t do a good enough job in Q1 on the medium tyre,” he said.
“They said that I was on the edge so I had to go out on the soft tyre, which I wasn’t planning to do. I think we did an out-lap and came in.
“And then we started on a new tyre for the first run [in Q2], and then went on to the one-lap scrubbed second tyre, and it was quicker so I finished the lap.
“It’s got basically a lap more on it than everyone else.”
