Lewis Hamilton has revealed details behind his last-gasp Sprint pole position at the Formula 1 British Grand Prix after he beat Kimi Antonelli by just 0.011s.
Hamilton and Ferrari’s pace looked imperious in the only practice session of the weekend, with hopes high ahead of Sprint qualifying for pole position.
Fans at Silverstone were then treated to a battle royale, as the seven-time world champion duelled against Kimi Antonelli in the opening two sessions.
In SQ3, Antonelli looked to have an advantage over the Briton, until Hamilton crossed the line in the dying seconds to take pole position by just 0.011s.
In Parc Ferme, Hamilton revealed details behind his stunning lap around Silverstone, praising his team and the fans.
‘I love this place,’ he said, “I love this crowd.
“And I can’t express to you how big a dream it is and I still to this day when you’re building up to this race and when you think about every corner and kind of the flow that you can get into it this track if you get it set up right and if you’ve got the right team behind you.
“And the cars felt really great today, thanks to everyone back at the factory. As I said just continuing to push we’ve got tiny little bits here every single weekend we’re showing up with something, just everyone’s pushed to the max and so I’m grateful to really grateful to get that pole.
“I mean I was quick through all the session but still, you know it’s only 10 minutes I think or something like that so very close to these guys and um the team really deserves it, so thank you to everyone here.”
“I mean we’re happy.
To say we’re ahead of these guys and the Red Bulls they have so much power these guys they’ve been doing amazing all year the boys in blue [Mercedes] this weekend.
“But my team just want to keep pushing and that’s that’s what I’m so proud of.
“So you know it won’t always be like this but we didn’t expect coming to Silverstone that we’d be competing for the front row, we really really didn’t.
“So this is a an amazing surprise um it’s at it so a great surprise.”
Can Lewis Hamilton take a Sprint victory on Saturday?
Hamilton also spoke of his confidence in the SF-26 on longer runs, placing him in a strong position for Saturday’s sprint.
“I think that pace was good, he said.
” We did a short sort of longish run in P1 there was not a lot of time.
But the car felt good there I think, you know, should have a good race tomorrow we start from the front row .
“I don’t I don’t know the last time I started from the front row here, so not so easy when you’ve got these guys that can follow you and you know be close to the extra power potentially but I’ll do my best to keep them behind.
Hamilton’s Sprint pole position is juxtaposed with Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur downplaying the impact of the Scuderia’s power unit upgrades. If Hamilton converts Sprint pole into a win on Saturday, this will act as a statement of intent towards Mercedes.
READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton stuns Silverstone with last gap F1 Sprint pole
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