Lewis Hamilton joy as Mercedes F1 car “came alive” in wet sprint qualifying
Lewis Hamilton felt like his Mercedes F1 car "came alive" in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint.
Lewis Hamilton says his Mercedes F1 car “came alive” in a wet qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race.
The seven-time world champion only just advanced to SQ3 in Shanghai but capitalised on a downpour to put his Mercedes second on the grid for Saturday’s sprint race.
Hamilton was beaten to pole position by 1.2 seconds by McLaren’s Lando Norris but secured his and Mercedes’ best qualifying result so far this season.
Teammate George Russell was only 11th after suffering an elimination in SQ2.
“It was very tricky, tricky conditions, not a lot of grip as you saw for everyone,” Hamilton said. “But yeah, so happy. As soon as I saw the rain coming, I was getting excited.
“Naturally in dry conditions, we’re not quick enough, so when the rain came, and I thought I’d have a bit of a better opportunity, and that’s kind of when it all came alive.”
Despite finding himself on an all-British front-row, Hamilton doubts Mercedes will have the pace to challenge for victory in the sprint race, especially if it is dry.
“It really depends what the conditions will be. If it’s like that, maybe we’ll have a chance of being somewhere up there,” he explained.
“I think if it’s dry, naturally the Ferraris and Red Bulls will come by. Maybe we can hold off some of the others.”
Hamilton is enduring his worst-ever start to an F1 season by his performance was praised by Sky Sports’ pundits.
“All day he was ahead of George. Even in the dry sessions, George didn’t seem comfortable or confident in the car,” Karun Chandhok said.
“Lewis exists to win. He won’t be happy to be down the order, as he was in the dry sessions of FP1. When the rain came, he rose to the challenge and delivered the lap.
“He will be crossing his fingers and doing a rain dance because it’s his only chance of getting on the podium.”
1996 world champion Damon Hill added: “He got excited when the rain came because he knew he could do something with the car which, under normal circumstances, would not be competitive.”
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