Defending world champion half a second clear of Rosberg
Tuesday 24 March 2015 13:58, UK
Australian Grand Prix polesitter Lewis Hamilton reckons Mercedes’ W06 is the best F1 car he’s ever driven.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after claiming his fourth Melbourne pole position and the 39th of his career, the defending world champion said his latest Silver Arrow was a definite improvement on its predecessor.
Hamilton, who qualified 0.6s faster than Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg and over a second clear of Felipe Massa’s third-placed Williams, told Rachel Brookes: “What an amazing job this team has done, 1.4 seconds to the team behind, everyone back at the factory should be so proud of themselves.
“Last year was the best car I had ever driven and already this year it is the best car I have ever driven. So it is quite unbelievable.”
Hamilton, who was slower than Rosberg during Friday practice and outqualified by him more often than not last season, said he was “very” satisfied with his performance
“It has been a good day and I am just happy that I was able to put the laps together consistently. Q1 actually didn’t start out too good, but it got good in the end,” said Hamilton, who briefly took to the grass at one stage and also complained of tyre vibration.
Rosberg’s challenge faded after he left the track at Turn 15 on his first flying lap of Q3. The German’s second attempt was still 0.5s slower than Hamilton’s first, with the Briton then shaving another tenth off.
“It has been like that all weekend,” Hamilton said of his improvement. “When you approach a weekend you don’t know what to expect, you don’t know where your mind is but you are hoping for the best, I think once I came across the line it really solidified my belief in where my mind is.”
Although Hamilton also claimed pole for last year’s race he retired early on, allowing Rosberg to take the win.
“Obviously last year didn’t start out too good, but last season showed it is not the end of the world if that is the case,” he said. “Everyone has worked very hard to try and improve reliability.
“Tomorrow is still going to be a challenge, I have Nico right behind, he is going to be quick in the race, he has been working a lot on the simulator, he has been doing race runs every time he goes into the factory, spending all day on the simulator trying to close the gap to me on my fuel usage and all those sorts of things.
“So I have to expect that he is going to be quicker there so I have to work hard tonight to make sure I am on form.”
