And car changes are pain in mine says Brit
Lewis Hamilton smashed the track record in Barcelona – then took aim at Formula One chiefs for trying to slow him.
The Englishman will start today’s Spanish Grand Prix in pole after edging out Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by four hundredths of a second.
Hamilton lines up first on the grid for the first time since race one of the season in Melbourne after a record-breaking 1:16.173 lap of the Circuit de Catalunya.
But the 33-year- old and his rivals are set to be reined in next year after rulers opted to make the cars simpler with less emphasis on aerodynamics.
The shake- up may be designed to improve overtaking but it is estimated vehicles will be a second- and- a- half slower each lap next season.
And Hamilton said: “We always want to go faster, improve the technology, push the boundaries and the limits.
“We should be at least as fast as we have been this year. At the moment we are making the racing better.”
Sebastian Vettel has clocked up a hat-trick of poles this year but the Ferrari driver had no answer to Hamilton on the track as he came home third.
Off it, though, the German joined his rival in ridiculing the changes.
Vettel said: “I find it comical. In 2009 the sport said, ‘Let’s go with less aerodynamics and better racing’ but it didn’t change too much.
“Then the sport said the cars are too slow so let’s put more aerodynamic bits on the cars and make them wider and more spectacular. The feedback from all of the drivers was positive. It is now more challenging and you see us more exhausted after the race. Now we want to make them slower again?
“It is a bit like cruising to America and changing direction 100 times.
“We should be asked what we need to overtake. We don’t know anything about engineering the car but we know how it feels and the limitations to overtaking. But we are never asked.”
The press conference was hastily brought to an end by the head of communications for F1’s governing body, the FIA, with Hamilton and Vettel continuing to express their unease as they walked away..
Hamilton and Bottas’ one-two marked Mercedes’ first front-row lockout of the year as the Brit looks to extend his fourpoint lead over Vettel in the standings.
Hamilton said “The team have been working so hard.
“It’s easy for us adults to get stuck in our ways but they have definitely let loose and stayed open- minded to think of new ways to try to improve, which is great. That’s what it takes to be a winning team.
“It was very close but I’m happy. I needed this pole because I haven’t had one for a while.”
Kimi Raikkonen starts fourth on the grid for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.
Fernando Alonso will line up from eighth in McLaren’s best qualifying display of the year af ter his car underwent a series of upgrades.
With a home crowd to impress today, the Spaniard joked: “I recover I think on average six places per grand prix so if we do that tomorrow I’ll be quite happy.”