“One day I’ll tell you about it in my book …”

(Motorsport-Total.com) – “That was one of the worst qualifying sessions, it was terrible,” said Lewis Hamilton, summing up qualifying for the Russian Grand Prix. Although the Mercedes driver took pole position (1: 31.304 minutes), he experienced a grueling shaking.

The start was a disaster: Hamilton started Q1 with a solid lap and came second behind his teammate Valtteri Bottas. But only a little later, the race leadership announced that the time was being canceled due to the breach of the track limits at Turn 2.

With his second attempt he managed to get into Q2, three tenths of a second behind his teammate in the first section. “The first problem was that time was running out,” says Hamilton. And not just once, because the show was repeated in Q2.

Hamilton wanted to make a second attempt in Q2

Once again he was able to set a time first, with a lap time of 1: 32.0 minutes he clearly distanced himself from the competition (this time even on the medium tire). But again the lap time was canceled, this time he clearly deviated from the ideal line at the last turn (turn 18).

“That was the first time in the whole weekend that I got out of there. Then I wanted to stay out and do another lap.” He discussed it on the pit radio with his racing engineer Peter Bonnington, who was finally able to convince him to go to the pits.

Mercedes did not want to risk it and tried again with new medium tires on the second attempt. She also had very little fuel on board. At the time, the world championship leader was only 15th with no lap time, but then his situation suddenly deteriorated when Sebastian Vettel collided with the Ferrari on the wall at turn four.

“Then the red flag went up.” At the time, the Mercedes driver was on his second quick try. In the first sector he was one tenth behind Bottas’s best time, in the second, however, he was absolutely the fastest sector.

When he was already driving in the middle of the third sector, the race direction first opted for yellow and a little later ordered the interruption of qualifying due to Vettel’s accident. Hamilton had to stop his lap before the last corner and was therefore still without a timed lap, with 2:15 on the clock.

“So it was a big risk to go out on the new tire again at the end of the day. Of course, you are always wiser in hindsight, but I’m not sure if that was the right decision,” he says. During the break he had to regroup and join the line in the pit lane waiting for the green light.

Bonnington frantically: “That was a hairpin!”

The Brit came out of his garage very late and was only in position seven. But then the next moment of shock in his outlap: “I would have been in Turn 1 [eigentlich Kurve 2] it almost spun because the tire temperature was still very low. “

He had to meander between the bollards marked in the starting area and lost valuable time and positions; He was only at the end of the queue behind Sergio Pérez. “Now we are behind our plan, about 20 seconds,” Bonnington said on radio.

Hamilton realized that he now had to make up both time and positions if he wanted to go to Q3. “I passed one car in the penultimate corner and two before the last corner, but then a Renault blocked me and I drove very slowly in the middle of the last corner.”

“We have to go, we have to go,” Hamilton heard his race engineer say frantically over the radio. The world champion stepped on the gas and crossed the finish line at the last moment: 1.1 seconds before the traffic light turned red and the session officially ended.

The Briton was allowed to finish his fastest lap. He finished fourth with a safety run, six tenths behind Daniel Ricciardo. This sealed their entry into Q3. “That was a hairpin,” Bonnington said on radio.

“We were very lucky,” Hamilton said. “But I think it wasn’t just luck, it was just the moment for us.” Despite all the excitement and hustle and bustle, the atmosphere in the team was not heated. “Our conversations are usually pretty quiet.” Even when it comes to the tire issue after the interruption: Hamilton didn’t really want to use the soft.

“If I reveal that, I would have to kill you”

Because: if you drive your best time in Q2 on the red tire, you have to start with it. He would have preferred to host the first season on Sunday on Medium, just like Bottas and Max Verstappen. But: “Since we had to wait two minutes at the end of the pit lane, the temperatures would have plummeted.”

Even with the new soft tire, he struggled, as the slippage at Turn 2 showed. “I pleaded to take the medium, but in the end they ruined the other one. We will discuss whether that was right or wrong.” Therefore, it will start soft on Sunday.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff defends the decision: “Our line of thinking was this: we didn’t want to fire him too early because he would have had to shut down the engine and start over with the MGU-K, but we can’t.”

Given that Hamilton was already at the back of the field anyway and wouldn’t catch the outlap that would be optimal for the middle, Mercedes took no chances. “Because the medium wouldn’t be ready yet [zu Beginn der schnellen Runde]”That is why the decision was made in favor of soft tires, which” damaged “the strategy in the race, Wolff agrees, but points out the lower risk.

The excitement shouldn’t diminish in the final qualifying segment either. How was the reigning world champion able to concentrate and ignore all the hectic pace and incidents for the final quest for pole position? “If I reveal that, I will have to kill you,” he jokes.

“Everyone is under enormous pressure. Experience helps a lot, so you already know how to focus again.” That was a great challenge. Hamilton emphasizes how grateful he was to have mastered the task in this way.

Exam after qualification: No penalty!

“I think overall one of my strengths this year is being able to fully focus on myself again, especially in Q3, and being able to do really impressive laps, exactly when necessary. I’m thankful for that.”

Postscript: “Maybe one day I’ll reveal how I do it in my book.” Hamilton’s comeback in Q3 was always impressive, the world championship leader letting nothing burn on his first quick attempt and setting an all-time best time on the tarmac with 1: 31.391 minutes.

“I really wanted to deliver in Q3. I was determined, I had no other choice. I had to deliver in these two laps. Because Valtteri was great all weekend. That’s nothing new, but I knew it was perfect. Lap, especially in the first race, to get pole. “

The British managed to do that. Suddenly Bottas had no response left, and almost eight tenths of a second behind his stable rivals. On the last quick attempt, he finally sealed his pole position with a new best time of 1: 31.304 minutes.

However, after qualifying, the day was not over for Hamilton and the race management. The following drama arose when it emerged that an investigation had been opened against driver number 44. Apparently, the Mercedes driver did not follow Michael Masi’s instructions in the exit zone of Turn 2.

Only two and a half hours after the incident was the final confirmation of the result and everything cleared for Hamilton: no penalty. After all the tension, he didn’t even seem very happy with pole position, because first place on the starting grid in Sochi is not necessarily an advantage due to the wake.

Wolff: “If anyone can do that, it will be Lewis”

“Pole is not very good here, it never has been. Still, we are always fighting for pole. And it could have been a lot worse, we couldn’t have finished in the top 10 so I’m glad we did.” I could fight. “

Not only was Hamilton tense, Mercedes team boss Wolff’s nerves were also tense on Saturday. The Viennese emphasized: “I was not nervous at all. I’ve been through much worse situations already. I knew that if anyone could do that, it would be Lewis.”

Therefore, according to his own information, the Austrian was “quite relaxed”. However, he also admits that the situation was “tricky” at the end of Q2 when there was only one second left to make the only quick attempt. “Still, I didn’t feel nervous about it.” In the end, Hamilton was able to celebrate the 96th pole position of his career.