Hamilton takes pole, equals Senna’s record
onds. It gave him 62nd pole position overall in F1, behind only Michael Schumacher (68) and Senna (65), and lowered the lap record Vettel set in the third practice session.
Hamilton went more than a second under last year’s qualifying time, but said “we thought it would be more than that. Maybe it’s the track - It’s cool today. I’m sure during the year it’s going to ramp up much quicker.”
Vettel, a four-time world champion, said Hamilton’s qualifying lap was only just out of his reach, but he was looking forward to racing the new, faster cars in GP conditions. “People are fired up,” he said. “We had a mixed day yesterday, but confidence in the car was there.”
Evidence in testing was that the heavier, more aerodynamic cars could corner faster and were significantly faster than the 2016 edition. Hamilton said it was up to the drivers to show how dramatic the regulation changes can be.