Lewis Hamilton quipped he was “very strict” with himself to ensure he made the required step at the end of Q3 that netted him pole position for the US Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s first Q3 push lap proved quick enough for pole in both Singapore and Japan, while in Russia a mistake on his final effort left him unable to challenge Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton held provisional pole after the opening Q3 laps at the Circuit of the Americas but faced a stiff challenge from both Ferrari drivers, with Bottas also an outsider contender.
Kimi Raikkonen subsequently demoted Hamilton off top spot but the Briton quickly reclaimed the advantage, while Vettel and Bottas both made gains but fell short of denying Hamilton.
“We knew that it was going to be extremely close today and that we would have to give it everything. Q1 and Q2 were fairly straightforward,” said Hamilton, who finished with a slender 0.061s advantage over Vettel.
“Once we got to Q3, we made sure that we got out on the track at the right time to have a good window and not be stuck in traffic.
“My first lap in Q3 was good, but it was really close between us all. I think I was ahead by less than a tenth and I knew the others would improve as well, so there was no room for error.
“There have been some Q3s in past races where I had to bail out on the second run, so I was very strict on myself and I told myself "Today, you have to pull through on that second lap", which is exactly what I did.
“The team has done a really great job this weekend so far, the approach for us has been very sturdy and we're not getting ahead of ourselves.
“We knew that it was going to be close this weekend and that we have to put in the same work, effort and diligence as before – and that's exactly what we will continue to do.”
Bottas qualified fourth but will move up to third on the grid owing to Vettel’s three-place penalty.
“It was a pretty straightforward qualifying session all the way until the second run in Q3,” he said.
“Everyone else improved much more on their second run, but I could not find more grip.
“You want the tyre pressures and temperatures to be in the optimum window for those qualifying laps.
“The first run in Q3 felt a little better, so we will have to look at the data and see if we managed to get the tyres into their optimum window for the second run as well.
“P3 is not a bad position to start from though and my main focus will be to get past Kimi because we want to get the maximum number of points for the team.”
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