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(Motorsport-Total.com) – Valtteri Bottas was ahead in all three training sessions, but at the crucial moment Lewis Hamilton was able to hit again and secure pole position at Mugello (Formula 1 2020 live on ticker). It is mainly due to hard work to catch up with his teammates.
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Valtteri Bottas is defeated, Lewis Hamilton returns to pole Focus
“In the past, I always thought one of my strengths was learning new tracks pretty quickly,” says Hamilton. “This time I even went into the simulator, which I never really do. I didn’t feel like it would benefit me much either,” he admits.
But when he got to Mugello, he found that his teammate Bottas clearly had the upper hand. “I had trouble finding the limit in certain areas. And in some areas Valtteri was miles ahead of me,” said the Mercedes driver. The result: Bottas set the best time in all three training sessions.
Every detail taken apart
But Hamilton did not want to admit defeat and played with his engineers until the evening. “Basically we take every detail apart and try to adjust the settings,” he says. And for him that is a science in itself. Because between oversteer and understeer, for example, sometimes there isn’t much feeling, as he says.
“You really have to understand if you have the right balance and then know what you are asking for when you move towards the limit. You have to anticipate what the car is going to do. There is an important science behind this,” Hamilton said. “And that’s why I have so much respect for drivers, because they don’t just drive, they understand everything and in the end they have to be engineers.”
But the work paid off in the end, because in Q3 he beat Bottas and took the next pole position. “The pressure was higher than ever because if I hadn’t done the job, I wouldn’t have gotten the result that we have now.”
Balance problems
Not sure why he seemed to have problems with the track at first. “Part of that was due to balance. I had problems with that, and in the end it’s confidence because you have to take a lot of speed in the corners.
“It’s a high-speed circuit so you don’t want to make a mistake. If you’re not comfortable balancing at the rear, you just go back and you’re not fast enough at the apex and out of the corner. I think it was. that’s why. “But with the conversion work on the car, Hamilton was able to turn the tide.
According to his own statement, there was still some time left, but the wind picked up on the second attempt in Q3, causing the car to slip more. His teammate Bottas would have had a chance to improve the pole time, but after Esteban Ocon (Renault) took off and the yellow flag had to interrupt the lap and let Hamilton take the lead again.
“Very difficult to beat Valtteri”
He praised his stable rivals: “It is always incredibly difficult to beat Valtteri. He is constantly improving and pushing the limits. Valtteri really had the advantage here from the beginning,” Hamilton said. But in the end, his work with the engineers paid off. “That is our true strength: this work behind the scenes,” said the World Cup leader.
BTW: Hamilton actually wanted to take the medium tires in Q2 and start with them. “The first season would be better on Medium,” he says. But because the road to the first corner is so long and you could lose the first few meters on the harder tires, Mercedes did not want to take the risk. Tomorrow, the top 10 will start soft.
