Lewis Hamilton described the incident that saw him miss out on the chance to complete a final qualifying lap as “very, very strange” after he fell from provisional pole to third place in the closing stages of Q3 at Suzuka.
The McLaren driver appeared to have a great shot at ending his and McLaren’s long wait for another pole position – which stretches back to last year’s Canadian Grand Prix – after he topped Q2 by nearly 0.3s and then hold provisional pole from team-mate Jenson Button after the first runs in Q3.
But approaching the final chicane on his final warm-up lap with just seconds to spare before the chequered flag fell, Hamilton, appearing to back off to increase the gap to the car in front, was passed on either side by Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher.
Then by the time Hamilton, having backed off further to avoid his two rivals, crossed the line the clock was already showing zero meaning he couldn’t complete another hot lap.
He was duly usurped on the grid by both Sebastian Vettel and Button and afterwards expressed his bemusement at the events that may have cost him pole.
“The car was feeling great and I felt I had a couple of tenths left at least [to find] – I had a couple of corners where I lost a bit of time on my first run,” he said.
“So I felt I was in the position to at least fight with these two guys but it was a bit dangerous at the last corner where I had Mark attack me [on the inside] and I had Michael down the outside.
“It was very, very strange so that’s really why we lost the lap.”
With Button ultimately missing out on pole by a mere 0.009s margin, Hamilton paid tribute to the work McLaren have done in getting so close to Red Bull on a track that the world champions have dominated at over the past two years.
“The team have done a fantastic job to get us here [second and third on the grid] and to be able to compete with the Red Bulls on this kind of circuit was pretty impressive,” he said.
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