Lewis Hamilton was clearly frustrated after qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix as he had to settle for seventh position following a strategic error.
The team opted to run a single lap, leaving the 2008 world champion in the garage with a handful of minutes on the clock. As the Brit set his lap, an accident involving Sergio Perez resulted in a red flag, meaning Hamilton’s lap was aborted.
The session restarted with two minutes remaining, but it wasn’t enough to improve on P7.
Hamilton says he has no doubt that he would have been able to qualify on pole position had the strategy worked out, but it didn’t.
“I had the pace to be on pole, no doubt about that,” he said after the session.
Meanwhile, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh admitted he was disappointed but also expressed confidence in Hamilton’s ability to recover in the race.
“Lewis is inevitably frustrated,” said Whitmarsh. “So are we. Lewis was very quick in Q1 and Q2 and really thought he was going to take pole here.
“Recovering from seventh place is very difficult but if anyone can, Lewis can, and I’m sure he will be very motivated to show what he can do.”
