Lewis Hamilton claimed his 77th career pole position – his sixth pole at the Hungaroring, fifth of the 2018 season and 125th front row in Formula One. Valtteri Bottas will start tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix from P2 on the grid, completing the fourth front-row lockout for Mercedes in 2018.
Lewis Hamilton
It’s a great feeling to lock out the front row, particularly with the tough weekend we’ve been having. In the dry, I thought I would be lucky to get third, fourth or maybe even fifth, as Ferrari have been quicker than us and Red Bull were fast too. But then the heavens opened and I knew we were in the game. The rain levelled the playing field and gave us that opportunity to make the difference.
I’m really proud of my team, they did a great job today and brought their A game. This has been a good track for me for years, but for some reason the last couple haven’t had that extra sauce that helps me get ahead. If it’s dry tomorrow, it’s all about positioning, as it’s so difficult to overtake here. It’s a long run down to Turn 1 so we have got to try and make sure there’s no space to get by.
That’s what we in the business call a Sexy Lap! ❤️@LewisHamilton ?? #HungarianGPpic.twitter.com/gOf9PQX6V1
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) July 28, 2018
Valtteri Bottas
On the one hand, today has been somewhat disappointing, as I wanted to get pole. On the other hand, I’m really happy for the team, a front-row lockout is the perfect result for us. This result would have been really difficult in the dry; but the wet conditions gave us the opportunity to be better today than Ferrari and Red Bull. It’s so tricky to get it right in the wet – it’s not easy to stay on track, let alone to be on the limit, trying to squeeze everything out of the car. It’s so tough if you know you only have one lap, but today everything just came together.
The team did an exceptional job with the timing and the tyre choices. As a team, we absolutely nailed it today. We now need to decide on the race strategy; there’s obviously two options for the start tyre – either the UltraSofts or the Softs. We will analyse the situation carefully and then make our choice. It’s great to start from P1 and P2 at a track like this where it is so difficult to overtake. We will give it everything to keep the Ferrari behind us and I’ll push hard to gain one position. It is going to be a good fight tomorrow.
Great work by the team today to get 1-2 for us in the hectic quali in mixed conditions.
Starting P2 for the race and going for it! Looking forward ???#VB77 #F1 #HungarianGP @MercedesAMGF1
? S.Etherington pic.twitter.com/sbavzPrauG— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) July 28, 2018
