James Allison was overjoyed with Lewis Hamilton’s pole position qualifying result, even if the Brit left him sweating with a disappointing second run.
Hamilton beat a strong Sebastian Vettel by half a tenth of a second in a session plagued by blustery conditions.
“We were delighted to see Lewis claim pole after a great first lap in Q3 – we had hoped for more on the second run but, in the end, he landed a few hundredths shy of his previous time,” he said. “But it got the job done and that’s what counts.”
A lack of running during Free Practice 3, caused by a change of engine, left Valtteri Bottas almost blind to the day’s track conditions. Allison believes his third place is a commendable achievement given the situation.
“For Valtteri, it was a highly creditable performance after his practice session this morning was disturbed by problems with the car,” he continued.
Even with the set backs, Allison is confident that the data collected on Friday will be enough to get them set up adequately for the race, and potentially achieve another strong double finish.
“We did some good work on race set-up during Friday’s practice sessions and are now looking forward to starting from P1 and P3 on the grid,” he added. “We know already it will be a very tight race but it’s one we have every chance of coming home from with a smile on our faces.”
