F1 News, Reports and Race Results

'I was so close!' says Hamilton after just missing pole

Lewis Hamilton came within 0.038s of snatching pole from local hero Max Verstappen at the climax of a tense qualifying session for the Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort.

Verstappen had been the hot favourite to take pole after ending the earlier final practice session with a half second advantage over the rest of the field, but Hamilton almost stole it at the last minute.

"Max did an amazing lap, and I was so close!" Hamilton commented when talking with the media in parc ferme after the end of the session. "He did a fantastic lap and deserves the pole.

"I was trying to catch him," he continued, pointing out that missing most of Friday afternoon's practice had left him on the back foot coming into today's qualifying.

"Obviously, with yesterday's session missed made it a little bit difficult today, but I gave it absolutely everything."

Securing a front row spot alongside Verstappen for the start of Sunday's race gives Hamilton a strong chance of beating his rival in the run down to the first corner and over the first lap.

"Strategy will obviously come into it a lot," he agreed. "It is going to be tough. It's a difficult circuit to overtake, but what a place for us to be racing.

"What an amazing venue, what an amazing track. I really do genuinely love coming to this country," he said, despite the overwhelming crowd support understandably going to Verstappen.

"I just want to say a big, big thank you to all the orange fans here, you know, the Dutch fans," he said. "I really appreciate the welcome. There's great sporting fans here and I love that, it's just been good. I really appreciate it."

Hamilton does have one advantage over Verstappen in tomorrow's race. His team mate Valtteri Bottas will line up in third place on the grid, while the second Red Bull will be a distant 16th on the grid after a disappointing qualifying for Sergio Perez.

"We're P2 and P3, that's a good starting point," said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. "In the race it's going be about survival on a one-stop. Max needs to make a decision, is he going for a one-stop or is he going for two?

"We can play both strategies tomorrow," he continued. "We've seen that two cars that can actually go totally different and suddenly we'll be pitting one, undercutting, massive pressure leaving the other out, and then finishing one-two!"

However Wolff was mindful that the presence of Pierre Gasly in a Honda-powered AlphaTauri alongside Bottas had to be considered. "Yeah they have Gasly, so they have a shadow car," he agreed.

Most of all, Mercedes are hoping for a clean race tomorrow without the first lap controversies seen at the Hungaroring and Silverstone.

"I hope we have a great race," he said. "I think if something were to happen tomorrow, even if we're not at fault, they [the Dutch fans] would be firing those orange flares at us!"

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Las Vegas GP: Thursday's action in pictures

The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…

39 mins ago

Williams' headaches persist into Vegas practice

Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…

2 hours ago

Ferrari's Sainz 'not satisfied with where we are' in Vegas

It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…

3 hours ago

Norris labels McLaren long-run pace ‘shocking’ in chilly Vegas

Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…

4 hours ago

Hamilton delighted with ‘consistently strong day’ in Vegas

Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…

5 hours ago

Verstappen stuck with 'draggy' rear wing for Vegas

Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…

6 hours ago