As the team approached the qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the scales within the Mercedes team, which was almost assured that one of its cars would clinch pole position, tipped in favor of Lewis Hamilton, who had secured two poles since the start of the season and finished first in all three practice sessions.<\/p>\n
But ultimately, it’s Nico Rosberg who clinched the top spot, marking the 5th pole of his career and the 20th in Mercedes’ history. However, this doesn’t upset Hamilton, who shows good sportsmanship: \u00ab I’m happy for Nico, as he’s worked hard all weekend and just did a better job today. It seems he felt more and more comfortable in the car over the weekend, and for me, it was a bit the opposite. \u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab Even if the results of the free practice sessions placed me first, I think he was faster than me in those sessions too, \u00bb he explains, before adding: \u00ab Despite everything, we are both on the front row and it’s going to be an interesting race. I hope I can do better. \u00bb<\/p>\n
The 2008 World Champion describes his Q3: \u00ab Well, my first lap was OK, it wasn’t too bad, but on the second one I had a big problem at turn 1 and had no chance of recovering from that mistake. \u00bb This big problem was a significant front-right wheel lock-up, in an area that poses problems for the Briton: \u00ab In each session, I lost a tenth and a half from the exit of turn 1 to turn 2, and I need to find out why with the data. \u00bb<\/p>\n
When asked how he feels when he sees the Mercedes fighting amongst themselves, far from the others, he shares: \u00ab It’s an incredible feeling. I really don’t know what to say except that it’s great to see what the guys can do. They work so hard to give Nico and me the car that gives us the chance to fight for victory at every race. \u00bb<\/p>\n
But then, what could prevent a Mercedes from winning this Sunday? \u00ab To be honest, I haven’t really looked around me: I focused on my job. I don’t know. Valtteri Bottas and Sergio P\u00e9rez form the second row now, we’ll see what happens. \u00bb<\/p>\n
Should he take the advantage from the start to hope to win? \u00ab It would help a lot. [Nico Rosberg] has great pace and has learned a lot from the weekend in Malaysia. So the gap here won’t be as significant as it might have been there – if there is one – and I have to try to find something new. \u00bb<\/p>\n
He is hoping for a summit battle to claim victory: \u00ab I hope we will have the chance to fight for victory. We have slight differences in our car setups, and Nico has always raced well here \u2013 he was the fastest last year \u2013 but the gap is a little smaller. That’s what I’m taking positively from today. \u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Questioned on the official Formula 1 website, Lewis Hamilton reflected on the Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying and hopes for a great battle with Nico Rosberg for the victory during the race this Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":40017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1749],"tags":[841,964,1404],"class_list":["post-15787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","category-news","tag-hamilton","tag-mercedes-amg-f1","tag-sakhir"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n