Lewis Hamilton conceded that his French Grand Prix pole position effort was far from perfect, though praised Mercedes’ recovery after its slight dip in Canada.
Hamilton edged Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas to take top spot for the 75th time in his career, but cut a subdued figure, admitting he was slightly frustrated at missing time.
“I'm really happy with the pole, but I always strive for perfection and there was some time left on the track, so I still have stuff to work on,” he said.
“I was three tenths down in the first two sectors; but fortunately, I fixed my last sector and caught it back up.
“Leading the field is where I want to be, so it's great to be back on pole. The track is growing on me as well; the more you drive it, the more you get to enjoy it.
“Ferrari will start the race on the UltraSoft tyres, we're on the SuperSofts, so that should be interesting.
“We definitely pulled together and have done a better job so far this weekend, but it's going to be close tomorrow.
“So I will keep my head down and try to capitalise on all the hard work coming into the race.”
Bottas ensured that Mercedes will lockout the front row of the grid upon Formula 1’s return to France.
“We were strong today, the team did a really good job,” he said.
“I myself got an okay lap, but did not yet get a perfect lap together. It felt like I was playing catch-up all day after I missed a lot of track time in FP2 track time in FP3 was limited for everyone.
“So I was still finding gains in every run throughout qualifying. In the end it was not quite perfect, but it was enough to get us a front-row lockout.”
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