Lewis Hamilton says he is thrilled to have beaten Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to pole position at Silverstone, especially after experiencing a difficult start to his British Grand Prix weekend.
Although the championship leader went fastest on Saturday’s final free practice, Rosberg had generally overshadowed Hamilton and even set the pace in Q1 and Q2.
But the Briton managed to recover and deliver in the top-10 shootout as he clocked a 1:32.248 and secured provisional pole on his first hot lap. This turned into Hamilton’s 46th career pole when neither he nor Rosberg could improve over their final runs.
“It's a special day,” said Hamilton. “It's special when you get pole position here on your home turf, when you see all those fans out there. So many people have come here today and this weekend and they really do motivate me, so it's particularly special when you do get the pole.
“Generally, it's not been the smoothest of weekends. It's been a bit up and down in terms of set-up and balance and getting laps, but I made changes to the car going into qualifying which, while perhaps not spectacular for a quali lap, hopefully should be good for the race.
“I'm really happy that, having got to Q3, I could go flat-out and get that lap in.
With eight poles out of nine races, Hamilton has clearly reversed last year’s trend that saw Rosberg beat him 12-7 on Saturdays. And while this did not prevent the German from outracing Hamilton in Austria last time out, the defending champion reckons his qualifying form has made his life easier on Sundays.
“Naturally that was something I wanted to improve this year. Last year, I had seven poles, which obviously made the races a lot harder to win trying to get past Nico on those occasions. So obviously this was a focal point.
“It’s difficult to say where it’s improved. Definitely that first lap in Q3 was a really important one. And generally through the year, I’ve been putting in good laps in that session.”
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