Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton today claimed the 63rd pole position of his career- his sixth at the Shanghai International Circuit, second of the 2017 season and sixth in succession
The Brit's 1:31.678 was 3.72s quicker than the 2016 pole position time and 0.56 seconds faster than the all-time circuit lap record set by Michael Schumacher in 2004.
After the shortened track time due to weather conditions, the triple world champion was thrilled that he could put together the perfect lap to start tomorrow's event from the best possible position.
“It's been an interesting weekend so far, obviously, after missing running yesterday,” he said. “It's been a challenge for all of us, trying to compile a lot of yesterday's work into this morning. Ferrari have been so fast through practice and then into qualifying. We knew it was going to be close and that we'd have to pull out all the stops to beat them. I managed to just chip away at it session to session, then make my last lap my fastest lap - which is always the target but doesn't always work out that way.”
“The lap started off not quite as well as my previous attempts. But from there it got better and better. I felt really strong coming into the final corner knowing I was up by a couple of tenths. But it's always a bit nervy going into Turn 14, as you want to brake late to gain some time but it's easy to lose more if you get it wrong. Waiting to find out what the others had done after I crossed the line was pretty tense! I'm really happy with today and super grateful for the huge effort the team had put in to keep us in the fight.”
“It's more exciting than ever right now. We're really fighting these guys out there and that's what racing's all about. It pushed you to raise the bar every time you go out, which I love. A big thank you to all the fans too. There were a lot of British flags out there which is great to see.”
