Lewis Hamilton's most defining moment in qualifying this afternoon was when the Mercedes driver urged himself and his team to pause and rekindle their efforts in Q2 as he struggled to find the proper flow early on in the session.
Eventually it all came together though in the final segment, with Lewis earning his first ever pole position in the twisty streets of Monte-Carlo.
"It wasn't the easiest session," acknowledged the British driver. "I had a lot of things that kinda threw me off the rhythm, and I didn't have it until the last two laps. Coming across the line, you just hope for once that you've got it, so this is incredibly special for me and for my guys who have worked so hard this weekend."
Frustrated in Q2 by his lack of cadence, Hamilton radioed in to the team, exhorting calm and a reset before Q3.
"It's difficult to express just how difficult this track is. It's so crucial to mentally get yourself into the rhythm. And if you don't get it in Q1 and carry it into Q2, you go into Q3 not knowing where you're starting. So I said 'Ok guys, let's just take a step back, we can do this..'. It's my job to influence the mindset of the team, the engineers, the mechanics. If they stumble I lift them up and they do the same for me."
With weather over the French Riviera uncertain for tomorrow, any predictions appear meaningless, even for a pole sitter, but Hamilton remains enthusiastic although a tad fatalistic.
"To be honest I feel like I've been through everything here, I've had lots of experiences and started in different places, so I'm just going to enjoy pole position right now and then deal with whatever I have to deal with tomorrow. The car's good, we should be good on the long runs, the tyres should behave well, and it will be important to get a good start. Otherwise, we'll take it as it comes, but I'm just happy to be on pole position of the Monaco Grand Prix. Wow !"
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