Lewis Hamilton believes he had been”very unlucky” not to pip Charles Leclerc to GP pole – but says he is enjoying the”exciting” duel with Ferrari at Monza.
With the last laps of Q3 ruined by the farcical battle for a tow round F1’s quickest lap, the battle for pole was ultimately settled from the very first Q3 runs – which Leclerc gained from Mercedes’ Hamilton by a mere 0.036s and Valtteri Bottas from 0.047s.
But both Hamilton and Bottas reckon pole might have been theirs had they not had to lift if KimI Raikkonen crashed ahead of them at the Parabolica. As it spun off hamilton was behind the Alfa Romeo.
“I had been really unfortunate,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. “I was only behind Kimi for my very first lap. I began so I caught him the lap near. Clearly with a car that is slower you need to make a gap for the tow.
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“I began catching him through the corners and I was thinking’don’t grab him too much’ and I got into the final corner and he summoned, and so I had to lift. With that lift I’d have lost an inch plus it might have bene the gap between moment and pole.
Nevertheless, the championship leader stated:”But that is leaving. I really like that it is that close and it’s not several tenths.”
Leclerc vs Hamilton in comparison
In side-by-side SkyPad evaluation of Leclerc and also Hamilton’s laps, Anthony Davidson shows how the Mercedes had been fractionally ahead of Ferrari starting the backstraight which leads to the Parabolica – and then was level pegging leaving the last turn despite necessarily having to facilitate away for Raikkonen.
From the video above, Sky F1’s Davidson says:”Raikkonen spins out ahead and Lewis certainly must back out of this ever so slightly.
“On the departure, even though a car spinning in front of him and clearly having to back out, the excess speed the Mercedes inherently has under it if it moves via a high-profile corner is enough to keep him pretty much level pegging with the Ferrari.
“Unfortunately for himonto that [pit] right, just at the end that is what decided ”
Meanwhile, Leclerc said he hadn’t been pleased.
“Mercedes were quick, we were very fast too,” the Ferrari driver said.
“My lap wasn’t special. I was way too near Hulkenberg about the first lap. The slipstream was obviously excellent, but in the corners I was losing a great deal. It was not ideal, I was way too close”
Hamilton and Bottas begin between the two Ferraris on Sunday’s grid along with the Englishman said:”I’m very happy we improved the car piece by bit during the weekend and then also was able to get very near the Ferraris which is amazing.”
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