- Bahrain Grand Prix - Qualifying
Hamilton 'proud' despite second
Lewis Hamilton insists he is perfectly happy with second place on the grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix despite seeing the balance of power shift to team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton came into the weekend on the back of pole and a win in Malaysia, and he topped all three practice sessions ahead of his team-mate. In qualifying Rosberg seemed to find another gear, however, and mistakes in both of Hamilton's Q3 runs ultimately cost him the chance of a third pole position of the season. Despite missing out Hamilton admits he is still encouraged by the huge gap Mercedes has clearly maintained since the winter.
"No, to be honest I'm not," Hamilton said when asked if he was disappointed with second. "You can't always get it right. Congratulations to Nico, he's been improving and picking up his pace, he had a really good lap at the end there. Obviously I made a mistake on my lap, locked up and went straight on, but generally I'm happy. I'm really proud of the team, for us to keep progressing and moving forward as we are."
Bahrain is likely to be one of the toughest tests for the drivers in terms of fuel consumption but Hamilton does not believe it will as much of an issue as some are predicting.
"It's no worse than it's ever been in the past I don't think. There's a lot of emphasis put on it but I think we should be fine tomorrow."
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