© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
After a fantastic result at the Turkish Grand Prix Qualifying Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas give their thoughts on the session and the race tomorrow.
Lewis Hamilton finished qualifying in P1, but he will have to start the race from P11, due to a ten-place grid penalty he got for swapping his car’s engine.
The Briton is aware of how difficult it’s going to be in the race tomorrow.
“It’s not the easiest [track for] overtaking at the moment and we’re all on the same tyre as well, so I imagine it is going to be difficult to move up,” said Hamilton.
“You saw in the last race what happened with Max once he got behind sixth-place or something and vice versa for me also, but we’ve got the long straight down the back.
“We’ll see what we can do. Hopefully we can give the fans here a good race.”
Hamilton also gave his thoughts on damp track conditions today.
“It was really tricky the session in general because there was still some damp patches and getting the temperature in the tyres for the first lap wasn’t easy but a really great job by the team.
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“I’m so happy with the performance in terms of getting us out at the right time. Tomorrow is going to be difficult but I’m going to be giving it everything,” concluded the seven-time champion.
His team-mate Valtteri Bottas qualified in P2, but will start the race from pole. The Finn says today’s session was aimed at minimising the impact of Lewis’ penalty.
“It was a good quali, not easy conditions especially in Q1, it was a bit on the edge with the damp parts in the first corner which and also turns three and four,” Bottas explained.
“The last lap, I missed a bit in the last sector with understeer but other than that, the lap was really nice and I enjoyed it.
“As a team result, it was as we had planned, so Lewis with his penalty, has the minimal penalty we can and I am on pole so it should be good.”
Asked what his strategy will be tomorrow, considering Max Verstappen is behind him, and Lewis is in P11, the Finn said he would focus on his own race.
“I will focus on my own race. That is the way to go when you start in front, so I will try to keep up a good pace,” Valtteri concluded.
