Lewis Hamilton says his Azerbaijan Grand Prix pole position lap was the "most exciting" of the season after he had just one lap to deliver the time necessary to knock team-mate Valtteri Bottas off top spot.
The Mercedes driver was sat in second behind Bottas when the red flag fell for Daniel Ricciardo's stranded Red Bull, after the Australian hit the wall at Turn 6.
With just 3 minutes 33 seconds left on the clock in Q3, drivers had just one chance to improve their time – a difficult feat with the tyres that require two laps to 'energise'.
Hamilton however delivered a stellar time, smashing that of his rivals by almost half a second to move into a clear second in the all-time pole position list with 66 – one more than Ayrton Senna and two less than Michael Schumacher.
"That’s how qualifying should be," said Hamilton. "Thankfully I was as able to pull a lap together.
"The team did a great job to make our car [great] and to put us out at the right time [after the red flag]. Tomorrow is going to be a long hard race but we’re in the best position to start."
A mistake on his first flying lap left Hamilton with everything to do when the session was restarted and he says he's "ecstatic" to have delivered.
"One of the most exciting laps I’ve had all year – my first lap I easily had the time but I made a mistake in the last corner – it's a lot of pressure getting temperatures into these tyres so it was all or nothing.
"The lap got better and better throughout. I saw Valtteri ahead and knew he was doing a good lap and as I came across the last corner I was like 'please be enough'. I’m ecstatic, so happy."
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