- Canadian GP - Qualifying
Hamilton made two mistakes on qualifying lap
Lewis Hamilton knows he had the pace for pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix but admits he ultimately did not get his lap right when it mattered.
Hamilton had looked comfortably quicker during practice and the early qualifying sessions, but was 0.079s shy of Rosberg when it mattered in Q3. He said he made two mistakes on the lap and admitted he should have registered a quicker lap on his first attempt to allow a margin for error.
"I went wide at Turn 8 and I went wide at Turn 6," he said. "To be honest I should have got the banker lap in, a bit like in Monaco, but Nico did a great job today and I think ultimately I know I've got good pace here I just didn't do it."
Mercedes takes it in turns to allow their drivers to choose which order they go out in for Q3. In Monaco Rosberg had chosen to go on track first, but Hamilton opted to go out second in Canada.
"This weekend it was my choice and at the last race Nico had the choice to go first or second," he said. "Obviously since we came into this weekend I decided to go at the end, but in actual fact it was probably not the best idea to do so. I was a bit behind traffic on the out lap up to the last corner and generally I was behind people and having to back up, which is not the best preparation for a lap. But it's okay, we've got a long race tomorrow."
Hamilton said he would try to get ahead of Rosberg using tyre strategy on Sunday.
"We've got a great car and tomorrow is a race between me and Nico. It's strategy and we've got to really look at working on the tyres and nurturing the car. I have to talk to my engineer, but I'm hoping that I'll have a chance.
"[Being second] makes it harder with strategy but I've recently had a good discussion with the guys and there are opportunities for me and it's really important to understand those before I go into the race."
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