According to Crash.net, Lewis Hamilton pulled off a stunning late turnaround in qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix, securing a front-row start after snatching a brilliant final lap in Q3.
The seven-time world champion missed out on pole position by just 0.298 seconds to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, an outcome that caught the 41-year-old Briton completely off guard. Throughout the weekend in Sepang, Ferrari had been struggling to find single-lap pace, making the final result an unexpected triumph for the SF-26 driver.
If we get to a point where we have base power with these guys, I think we’re going to have an even better fight in future,
“We made one last change going into qualifying, and I think we hit the sweet spot,” Hamilton said in parc ferme. The 106-time grand prix winner pointed to the scorching heat, which wreaked havoc on tyres and car balance alike, and heaped praise on his mechanics for constantly tweaking the machine through practice.
Before the breakthrough, ultimate pace estimates had pointed to a modest fifth or sixth place for the team. Hamilton admitted he expected Mercedes to pull further ahead thanks to a major upgrade package, especially given their winning streak, leaving the red cars to dig deep.
“The only place we lose is down the straights to them. I think we’re losing three or four tenths on the straights to them, which we know of, and so we just work as hard as we can to try and maximise in the corners,” Hamilton explained.
Speaking in the post-session press conference, the veteran driver elaborated on just how razor-thin the margins are with these machines. A single click of the front wing, a millimetre of ride height, a quarter-degree of camber, or 0.1 of toe can completely transform the balance from one run to the next. Hamilton marked his best qualifying performance since June's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, where he claimed his memorable first victory in red, and now hopes the squad can maintain this momentum.
“If we get to a point where we have base power with these guys, I think we’re going to have an even better fight in future,” Hamilton added.
