Hamilton explains why he couldn't challenge for pole in Q3
F1 News
Lewis Hamilton sounded downbeat after his result in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. The British driver will start Sunday's race from P7 while his teammate George Russell will start from pole positon. Hamilton explains why he dropped away during the most meaningful part of qualifying.
After the first run in Q3, it looked like Mercedes might secure a front-row lockout. But it wasn't to be as Hamilton got overtaken by Verstappen, McLaren, Alonso and even Daniel Ricciardo. In the end, the Brit missed out on pole by almost three-tenths.
Why Hamilton wasn't able to challenge for pole position
Hamilton topped FP3 earlier in the day. In fact, he was fastest by nearly four-tenths. His teammate looked at his data and made changes going into qualifying but Hamilton couldn't hold on to his advantage. He blames the change on a lack of grip.
"The car's been feeling great throughout the weekend. Russell had plenty of pace in it. Through FP3 and since qualifying started, the grip was not there. Conditions were great, perfect, in fact. Tyres weren't working the whole session for me. I just didn't have grip. I had an easily half-a-second advantage in P3. And it's gone," Hamilton told the media in Canada, including GPblog.
Russell will have Verstappen breathing down his neck going into turn one, as well as both McLaren drivers. Russell will have to defend his P1 on his own, without the strategic advantage of having two drivers in the mix. Hamilton admits he's feeling "great" for Russell and says he "will hopefully do the job tomorrow".