The Mercedes drivers were happy as they locked out the front row for the Japanese Grand Prix.
While the result may not come as a huge surprise, the gap between both title protagonists Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton was the slimmest of margins at a mere 0.13s.
Despite the gap equating to just 82 centimetres in terms of distance, it will be eight metres that separate the two on the grid with Rosberg taking pole position at Suzuka for the third year in a row.
The German said post-qualifying: “I’ve been feeling great all weekend, having felt incredibly comfortable in the car. It gave me the confidence to push even harder at the end of Q3 which meant I pulled out a great lap to recover pole from Lewis.
“Suzuka is a really difficult circuit because of the varying corners, which means it’s even more difficult to get the car set up just right.”
With having to quickly deal with the engine failure in Sepang just a week earlier, Hamiton had been consistently trying out different setups through free practice heading into qualifying, despite just missing out on pole, he seemed very happy with his performance.
Hamilton added: “This weekend has not been that easy. I’d been veering one way with the setup of the car and then had to shuffle back going into qualifying and it felt like I was in no-mans-land as we approached Q1. With that in mind, I’m extremely happy that I was able to bring it back to that kind of gap.
“Of course, starting on pole is always a good thing but let’s hope the work we’ve been doing on the starts pays off. It’s also still hard to know at this stage what the weather is going to do but I’ll do the best I can tomorrow.”
The Mercedes team took to Twitter in amazement as both drivers crossed the line in qualifying to display their happiness at another front row lockout.
Twitter: TWO PHENOMENAL LAPS!!
Just 0.013 between them!!
@LewisHamilton completes a Silver ARROWS front row lockout!!… https://t.co/gIDA6sIcdT (@MercedesAMGF1)
