Hamilton hails 'fantastic' pole position

Lewis Hamilton's pole position in Valencia on Saturday marks the World Champion's first of the year after winning his first Grand Prix of the year in Hungary four weeks ago. The Englishman, with his team-mate as backup, now hopes to convert the leading starting place into a second consecutive victory on Sunday.


The all-McLaren front row for the European Grand Prix is the first for the Woking-based team since the Hungarian Grand Prix of 2008 and Hamilton's first since China's penultimate race last season. "It's fantastic," he said in the post-session press conference. "Here we are! A fantastic achievement by the team in the last race and to come here, not really knowing if we would have the same pace or if others had made a step forward….

"We are clearly competitive here. Myself and Heikki did a fantastic job; it's great to see us both there because both of us have been wanting a one-two qualifying experience for a long time so it's great to be here."

With Brawn also looking competitive, achieving the top spot is never easy although McLaren attempted to save as much fuel as possible in order to inherit a more flexible race strategy. "Fortunately, we managed to do some very good laps so we didn't have to do too many but things can be improved," Lewis continued. "We are in the best position for myself and Heikki for a podium but it all depends on strategy, how the start goes and how the race goes."

Pole is a particularly impressive result from the leading McLaren, which completed only three laps in Friday's second practice session due to a crash and, like the rest of the field, lost almost half of its available running time after Sebastian Vettel's engine dropped oil onto the circuit this morning.

Source: GP Update