BUDAPEST (Hungary): Lewis Hamilton said he had to find “absolute perfection” on his final flying lap on Saturday to grab the 90th pole position of his career ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton’s seventh Hungarian Grand Prix pole – and the 90th of his career to date – was a beauty.
“It felt great, just in general, qualifying all together felt really solid,” Hamilton told formula1.com.
“We were just constantly pushing the bar higher. To get to drive a car like this around a track like this is just awesome. Turn 11 was nearly flat for us today which is quite insane, the speeds we go through there. It’s impressive to see how far the technology has advanced.”
His Mercedes W11 looking nicely hooked up around the 2.7-mile lap. But according to Hamilton, beating his team mate Valtteri Bottas to P1 at the Hungaroring had required a lap of “absolute perfection”.
Having been narrowly outpaced by Bottas in Free Practice 3, Hamilton found another gear in qualifying, as he headed Q2 from the Finn by two-tenths before a monster final effort in Q3 saw him establish a new track record, as he stopped the clocked at 1m 13.447s to claim pole position – over a second faster than Max Verstappen’s pole time from last year, and 0.107s clear of Bottas.
“Hungary has always been a good hunting ground for me,” he added. “Valtteri did a great job today, applying a lot of pressure… [He] doesn’t make it easy for me at all. It requires absolute perfection when it comes to doing laps and qualifying like that is what I enjoy doing most.”
