Lewis Hamilton was “elated” to claim his second front row start in what he called a “trying year” so far.
The Ferrari driver’s only previous front row start this year came at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, which he went on to win.Though he was second in the championship just four rounds ago, his deficit to leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli has more than double since then to over 100 points. He said he was “really, really happy” with today’s result after in season which has been frustrating at times.
“It’s definitely been a trying year. Lots and lots of positives, lots of good days [but] for sure more bad days on the race weekends.
“It’s just been a massive challenge. It’s so competitive out here every weekend. Everyone’s doing a really great job across the teams. There’s been some races where we’re all within tenths of each other and getting the most out of these cars and these power units has been, honestly, the bane of probably all of our lives.
“So we didn’t expect to be on the front row, so that’s why I’m so elated, because I thought we’d be like fourth or fifth or something like we usually are, so to be second is pretty awesome.”
Hamilton said he felt vindicated by the result. “We’re in the office, we’re giving it everything, we’re looking at all this data. You’re going through so many different things, you’re focusing on your breathing and your food and your timing and all these different things, your heart rhythm.
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“Then you get out and mistakes happen or something catches you out and it’s frustrating as hell. This and golf are probably the two most frustrating fricking sports there can possibly be.
“But when you finally calm down, get things aligned and things run smoothly and you get a result like today, it’s really great. It kind of just reinforces the belief you have in yourself
“All the times that you are failing make you question things sometimes. But you just continue to have that belief regardless of what is happening around you. Then, when it finally comes, you’re like ‘see, I knew I had it’. And that’s a great feeling.”