Rosberg eyeing pit-stops as chance to get ahead on Sunday
Saturday 23 May 2015 18:41, UK
Lewis Hamilton was delighted to finally break his Monaco qualifying duck, but knows he still has work to do to convert it into victory.
After seeing his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg take pole in the principality for the last two years, Hamilton finally took the Saturday honours.
Regarded as one of the fastest over a single lap, it was the first time the defending world champion has been on pole in Monaco during his F1 career. The last time he secured the top grid slot in Monte Carlo was for a GP2 race in 2006.
“I am very, very happy. I can’t tell you how happy I am,” a beaming Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
“It was going so badly, okay I was getting through the sessions, but in terms of mentally getting yourself into a rhythm, it is so crucial to get into a rhythm. If you don’t get it in Q1 and carry it into Q2, you are thinking ‘I am going into Q2 with no rhythm, where am I starting?’ But somehow I switched back into it and that is why I am even happier.
“I didn’t have my braking problems that I have had over the last two years – and it wasn’t even a braking problem, it was just me not braking late enough and not being confident enough. This weekend I had the confidence and I was all out and doing everything I could to get the lap.
"And obviously I had no yellow flags etc messing around the track which was good," added Hamilton, referring to last year's qualifying controversy when Rosberg took to the escape road at Mirabeau - which prevented him from beating his team-mate's time.
While overtaking is notoriously difficult around Monaco, Hamilton knows Saturday’s result doesn’t guarantee him victory in the race.
“This is not even half the job done,” he said. “There is so much to do tomorrow, there is a long, long way to go, there are so many laps here and it is going to be mentally and physically challenging.
“The car is good, we should be good on the long run, the tyres should behave well and it is important to get a good start because obviously the last one was not good at all so hopefully we can rectify that. Otherwise we will take it as it comes.”
With Rosberg fastest in Q1 and Q2, Hamilton radioed his team in the middle of the session to calm his mechanics down as he struggled to hook up a lap.
“It was so easy to get frustrated in those first two sessions because I wasn’t able to get into my rhythm,” he told Sky Sports News HQ.
“I was missing opportunities, and traffic, and my tyres weren’t coming in, and some other problems we had. I personally felt that while I could have been flustered, there was more fluster within our little group, so I think I am kind of the leader, so I felt like, ‘I’m going to lift these guys up. We can still do it’.
“And that’s what we generally do for each other. There are times when I’m flustered and not doing so well and they lift me up, and this was a time for me to calm everyone down [and say], ‘We’re cool, I got this’, and that was what I was trying to do.”
Starting from second, Rosberg still has the chance to equal the record of three successive Monaco wins set by Graham Hill, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna and the undercut at the pitstops could perhaps be an opportunity.
“Monaco track is the most challenging track in the world and to attack on this track, you need to have everything right, and today it just wasn’t perfect,” the German said.
“I had the advantage because the guy behind has more rubber on the track because there are a few guys in front who have done extra laps.
“The pit stop is an opportunity. Let’s see. Maybe something happens there.”
Don’t miss Sky Sports F1’s exclusively live coverage of the 2015 Monaco GP. The race begins at 1pm on Sunday, with build-up underway from 11.30am. No Sky Sports? No problem! Watch the Monaco GP for £6.99 with NOW TV
