Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix, but the reigning World Champion thought he had blown the opportunity after a spin whilst beginning his final attempt to improve his time.
The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver’s initial lap of 1m08.455s ultimately ended up being fast enough to take his seventh pole position in eight races this year, but feels on race pace it will be a close battle between Mercedes and Ferrari.
“Generally it was quite a difficult session, for everyone I think, with the conditions,” said Hamilton. “I’m really grateful I got that third lap in on the first run in Q3.
“I was pushing hard to find more time on the final lap of the second run and just locked the rears into Turn One. At that point I was backwards in seventh gear and just focused on trying to make sure I didn’t damage the car. But then, once I stopped, I thought I’d probably lost it.
“It was bizarre but I’m really happy to get pole. It will be an interesting race tomorrow. Ferrari have shown great pace so it will be close with them. The tyres seem to be behaving so we should be set for a good battle.”
