Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) in Malaysia: “That really took me by surprise”

The Tifosi have reason to be hopeful: Lewis Hamilton put in a strong performance in the final practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia – securing second on the grid, his best result since mid-June in Barcelona.

Hamilton admits: “I was genuinely surprised that we were able to make it onto the front row here. But first of all, congratulations to Max – he was blisteringly fast right from the first lap. Red Bull Racing has obviously made great progress.”

“We’ve also seen that Mercedes came with a major upgrade, and as they’ve won so many races, we assumed these improvements would tend to extend their lead. But that didn’t happen.”

“As for us: we’ve been in the region of fifth or sixth place all weekend. But in qualifying, the car felt brilliant. We made a lot of changes, and everything came together in the final practice session.”

“Compared to the best, we’re losing three or four tenths on the straights, which is why we’re working as hard as possible to maximise our performance through the corners. We managed to do that today. If we can keep that up, we hope to achieve better results in the future.”

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“The crux of the matter with these cars is that they’re so sensitive. You make the tiniest change, and it’s truly astonishing how big the difference can be from one run to the next. A click on the front wing, a millimetre of ground clearance, a quarter of a degree of camber or 0.1 of caster – things like that. All in all, these little things make such a big difference, and the set-up work is literally a moving target.”

On the race, Hamilton says: “In the endurance runs, the balance wasn’t quite as good as it was in qualifying for a fast lap. But we’re often stronger in the Grand Prix than in the final practice session.”

“In a way, we’re all in the same boat. Overtaking is difficult, and when you’re right on the tail of an opponent, the tyres are even more prone to overheating. That’ll be interesting in the Grand Prix.”