Lewis Hamilton admits he underestimated how good his car would be during qualifying after ruling out any chance of battling for pole position on Friday.
The McLaren driver had to eat his words after securing second, just +0.055 behind Mark Webber.
On Friday, following first and second practice, the 26-year-old said the following: “In pure pace in qualifying we don’t have the pace to run with them [Red Bull and Ferrari], over a single lap they definitely have about a second on us,” but his comments proved to be unfounded, which he put down to the teams hard work.
“I definitely underestimated how good car would be when we went to light fuel. The lap was beautiful, it was one of the happiest and comforting laps I have ever had,” he said after the session.
“I was sitting in the car before Q3 and I thought I might have to eat my words. It was definitely the best qualifying session I can remember having at least this year. First session was fantastic and the last lap was excellent.
“When I crossed the line it was massively satisfying,” he added.
“A huge congratulations for my team, it was a fantastic effort. Throughout the weekend we have had a constant push to bring updates and improve engine modes, which helped massively.”
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