Lewis Hamilton: “We were too late to get going…”

Lewis Hamilton has been left with a difficult task tomorrow after a puncture and a mistake in the McLaren garage spoiled his qualifying session.

Hamilton had a right rear puncture when he went out on supersofts late in Q2 in order to ensure that he made Q3. In fact he did not need to improve his time and the set was lost when he picked up the puncture.

In Q3 he was second after the first runs, but when he returned to the pits to take on fuel for his second run, the fuel did not go into the car. By the time the team realised, it was too late. By not going out, he was bumped down to fourth.

The only positive is that by not going out he saved a set of new supersofts, but the only other set of options he has are the tyres he qualified on and will thus have to start with. His strategy choices are rather limited – two stops with perhaps a bit of help from the safety car is the logical route.

“Quite an eventful one, but nonetheless it was still quite good, we were competitive,” said Hamilton. “We came in, tried to refuel the car, and they had a refuelling problem. We were running out of time, but by bit, and we just couldn’t get enough fuel in the car. We were too late to get going and unfortunately we weren’t able to get our second run.

“But these kinds of things happen. The team did the best job they could, but we’re not in a bad position. I think we probably could have been on the front row, I think we had a bit more time in the bag, which was good, so that’s positive for tomorrow.”

Hamilton thought the puncture was caused by a loose kerb bolt rather than debris from Kamui Kobayashi’s earlier crash.

“I’m not sure, I went over a kerb and then they said they lost pressure immediately, so it might have been on a kerb. There are lots of bolts hanging out of kerbs, that’s what they’ve been having problems with over the weekend, so maybe that’s it.”

In Q3 Hamilton also got involved in a dispute over track position with Felipe Massa: “The guys always try to back you up, and I was ready to get going, so I was trying to get past and he was blocking, and blocking and blocking. Eventually i got past. My lap was pretty good, but I was held up by Fernando, I was about a second behind Fernando at the end. I lost a little bit in my second sector. The pace is good, I feel good for tomorrow.

“From fourth I think we can only go forwards – I hope so. I think it’s really about looking after the tyres throughout the race.”

Hamilton said he was not upset about the fuelling glitch: “Well, this is racing, and there’s been lots of mistakes from me, lots of mistakes from… We’re a team and this kind of thing happens.”