Lewis Hamilton was quick to praise team-mate Valtteri Bottas after the Finn secured his maiden Formula 1 pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Hamilton had been faster than anyone else throughout the qualifying hour, but when it came to the final run the Briton made a mistake and he was beaten to pole by just 0.023secs.
Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference, Hamilton said: “A big congratulations to Valtteri.
“He’s been working so hard and he’s gelled so well with the team. Today he was just quicker than me and did the better job, so hats off to him on his first pole.
“My lap felt great but it was so close out there. I was losing quite a bit of time through the first sector, which is unusual as it’s usually a very strong sector for me.”
Hamilton was happy that the margins were so tight between himself and Bottas, however, the Briton feels that Ferrari could be in the mix for the race as their long run pace could be a match for the silver arrows.
“I’m happy with the job I did and it’s great for the team to lockout our first front row,” Hamilton added.
“Today we had a bit of a margin over the Ferrari’s but generally in race trim, they seem to be a bit quicker, so we expect them to be closer tomorrow. It’s definitely going to be tight.
“Looking after the tyres is difficult, so whether it is a one or two stop race will be interesting to see. Hopefully, we’ll have a great battle tomorrow.”
This is the first time since 2014 that Hamilton has failed to secure pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, on that occasion he started second but managed to triumph in a thrilling race-long duel with his team-mate at the time Nico Rosberg.
