• European Grand Prix - Qualifying

Hamilton surprised to get P3

ESPNF1 Staff
June 25, 2011 « Pole proves Red Bull still fastest - Vettel | »
Lewis Hamilton: "After FP3 we were struggling a little bit to turn the tyres on" © Getty Images
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Lewis Hamilton admitted his third place grid position was a much better result than he had expected to get going into qualifying for the European Grand Prix.

Hamilton set the second fastest time behind Sebastian Vettel on his first run in Q3, but was pipped to the front row by the second Red Bull of Mark Webber when the front runners attempted a second hot lap. Nevertheless, he said the result was better than he expected after McLaren struggled with the tyres in practice.

"I wasn't expecting to be so far up [the grid]," Hamilton said. "After FP3 we were struggling a little bit to turn the tyres on but the guys did a great job analysing some of the data that we have and then improve going in to qualifying. A fantastic job by the guys."

He admitted that he made a mistake on his second lap as he tried to shave a few tenths off his lap time.

"I think the lap wasn't too bad," Hamilton added. "I tried to improve on that last lap, you're always trying to get a little bit more, and I guess I got a little bit greedy and just bailed out on that last lap. Hopefully we saved our tyres for the race."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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