Lewis Hamilton says he hopes the final race of 2017 won’t be a procession after being beaten to pole position by his team mate.
The Yas Marina circuit has a reputation for producing processional races. But Hamilton is hoping for a lively Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which he will start alongside Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton admitted he had made too great a compensation for falling track temperatures when choosing his set-up for qualifying.
“Practice had gone good this morning,” he said. “I was really comfortable with the car.” Hamilton had been over a quarter of a second faster than Bottas in final practice.
“This track gets cooler in the afternoon so you make some changes to counteract it,” Hamilton explained. “I may have gone too far, I have gone too far. I was fighting the car the whole time.”
The closest Ferrari was half-a-second slower than the quickest Mercedes in qualifying which Hamilton said he “wasn’t expecting” before the session began. “But generally when it gets cooler that bodes well for us,” he admitted.
Bottas took his fourth pole position of the year and set a new track record for the Yas Marina circuit with his lap of 1’36.231. “Valtteri did an exceptional job today,” Hamilton added. “He deserved to have pole.”
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
25th November 2017, 16:06
I don’t think Bottas will ever attempt to holding Lewis back and create a train by doing it.
sethje (@seth-space)
25th November 2017, 17:19
Bottas received a reward for his services this year. He can win this race.. not real fight from Lewis. Like Greg Armstrong in his best years, you sometimes have to invest in human relations to receive a even bigger reward.
sethje (@seth-space)
25th November 2017, 17:21
-t
Phylyp (@phylyp)
25th November 2017, 16:15
Don’t we all?
RKfanPL
25th November 2017, 19:41
Judging from past experience Botas lead will not last till first corner. Hamilton and probably Vettel are going to be ahead by then already.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
26th November 2017, 10:19
The only races where Bottas got successfully overtaken before the first corner was in Canada and Mexico. And even in Canada, as Vettel fell behind, Bottas didn’t loose a place.
So out of all 19 races, the only one where Bottas has lost a position before the first corner was Mexico. So I don’t know what past experience you are basing this from.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
26th November 2017, 11:08
I’d rather a train that keeps the top 6 tight together then forces some interesting varied strategies for undercut / overcut…
Instead of Hamilton leading after the first corner and running away with it for a boring unchallenged win.