Lewis Hamilton described his pole lap at the Monaco Grand Prix as “one of the best” he can remember.
The Mercedes AMG Motorsport driver snatched pole position from his team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the final moments of qualifying at the Circuit de Monaco as he set a new track record.
“This is one of the best poles I can remember.
“We’ve had a lot of success over the years, but I can’t really remember a pole that means as much as this one.”
The Mercedes team had been rocked by the loss of Niki Lauda earlier in the week but have been the strongest team throughout the race weekend and Hamilton has been impressed by how the team have come together.
“It’s been such a difficult week for the whole team and me personally.
“It’s amazing that we’ve turned up here as a team, continuing to take strides forward together collectively, get stronger and improve our performance weekend in, weekend out.
“I’m just so proud of everyone.
“We have a cloud over us this weekend, so we’re really trying to lift each other up and we’re trying to deliver for Niki.”
Hamilton has two previous victories in Monaco but felt that today’s lap was as close to perfection that he could ever get on the streets of Monte-Carlo.
“I have not had a huge amount of success in Monaco over the years, I never quite got that perfect lap, but I think today was as close as I can get to it.
“This one is for Niki.”
