• European Grand Prix - Qualifying

Hamilton expected low grid slot

Lewis Hamilton managed was 0.3s slower that pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel © Press Association

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• Report:
• Imperious Vettel takes Valencia pole
  

• Race:
• European Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Lewis Hamilton

• Teams:
• McLaren

Lewis Hamilton admitted that he was expecting to qualify "a lot further back" than his second position for the European Grand Prix.

McLaren has been struggling all weekend, and although most of the problems appeared to be with the race pace Hamilton was not confident for qualifying either. However, after an extremely close session Hamilton was able to take second spot - albeit 0.3s slower than Sebastian Vettel - and he admitted that a set-up gamble had paid off.

"To be honest I expected to be a lot further back," Hamilton said. "We've struggled all weekend, just with set-up and going in from P3 to qualifying we had to kind of make some guesses as to what kind of set-up we wanted to change and it seemed to work OK. I was really, really surprised. The guys obviously did a great job as always to get me a good gap and - whilst the car still felt pretty good - I think the gap is still quite big here so it's going to be a tough race tomorrow as always."

When asked if his low expectations were a sign of the unpredictable nature of the season, Hamilton agreed.

"I think so; at least it appeared so when we first started practicing here yesterday. But generally I think if you look at the grid, because it's so hot we know that the Lotuses look massively competitive, I think they're going to be the ones to watch out for tomorrow. I'm sure the Ferrari's will be very quick on the long runs as well, so who knows what is going to happen tomorrow, we've just got to try and look after our tyres in these tricky conditions."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.