Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton stormed to pole position at the German Grand Prix — his third pole of the season and the 29th of his career. PHOTO: AFP
Lewis Hamilton delighted a vast crowd of Mercedes fans when he secured his second pole position in succession yesterday with a dramatic fastest lap in the final seconds of qualifying.
Just a week after his dazzling feat at Silverstone in the British Grand Prix, he did the same again ahead of today’s German Grand Prix with an assurance that stunned his rivals.
The 28-year-old Briton, world champion in 2008, clocked a fastest lap of one minute and 29.398 seconds in his Mercedes to outpace nearest rival Sebastian Vettel by one-tenth of a second in a dramatic finale to a tense hour’s action.
It had looked as if the Red Bull driver’s lap was fast enough for pole as Vettel sought to set himself up to bid for a first win on home soil in the 60-laps race until Hamilton had the last word.
It was Hamilton’s third pole position of the season and the 29th of his career, pulling him level with Argentine legend Juan Manuel Fangio and defending triple world champion and current series leader Vettel in the record books.
Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Australian Mark Webber was third fastest ahead of Finn Kimi Raikkonen and his Lotus teammate, Frenchman Romain Grosjean.
In an unexpectedly brilliant display of pace, Formula One’s second Australian, Daniel Ricciardo, qualified sixth for Toro Rosso ahead of the two Ferraris of Brazilian Felipe Massa and Spaniard Fernando Alonso.
Briton Jenson Button was ninth for McLaren and German Nico Hulkenberg 10th for Sauber on an afternoon when Hamilton’s teammate German Nico Rosberg missed the cut and qualified 11th.
Both Button and Hulkenberg chose not to clock a time in the session as they, like the Ferrari men, opted to go for race strategy instead of grid positions.
Hamilton overwhelmed with end results.
The Mercedes driver said, “It’s really overwhelming. I’ve been struggling since the first run in P1 [first practice session]. It was pretty good, but P2 and P3 were disasters and it got worse this morning. I wasn’t comfortable with the car at all.
“We went back to the truck, tried to analyse everything and made lots of changes and hoped it would work. Fortunately the car was beneath me and I was able to put in the times.
“I’m grateful to the guys and all the hard work they put in. It’s a privilege to drive for this team.”
Meanwhile, Vettel said, “Congratulations to Hamilton — he did a great job. It was quite close and I tried everything I had but couldn’t make it.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2013.
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