World champion rises above qualifying anti-climax to dominate session in Australia to take the 50th pole position of his F1 career
Saturday 19 March 2016 09:26, UK
Lewis Hamilton says he produced "sexy laps" at Albert Park as the F1 world champion dominated qualifying for the Australian GP.
The Mercedes driver secured pole position after topping all three parts of qualifying in Melbourne. Hamilton finished the session nearly four tenths clear of team-mate Nico Rosberg and over eight tenths clear of Sebastian Vettel in third.
To underline the pace of the world champion, Hamilton was 2.5 seconds quicker than his pole lap of 12 months ago.
"They were some sexy laps, they just felt so good, flowing and no real mistakes and that really is all you can hope for as a driver is to always improve," said Hamilton.
"I enjoyed driving the car in qualifying today, I got the set up just right."
The pole position was the 50th of Hamilton's F1 career, but it was overshadowed by heavy criticism of the new qualifying format which saw the result settled with over four minutes of the session remaining.
"I miss the old days when they went out and just run and run and run. Senna would come in, sit there and then have to go and do another lap, that was cool," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
"One lap is neat, but that was not so exciting for the fans to watch as everyone was sat in the garages. But all my engineers said that would be the case, they say they told the FIA and FOM that that would be the case and they ignored them."
With key figures in the paddock calling for revisions to qualifying before the next race in Bahrain, Hamilton is against reverting to the popular system used between 2006 and 2015.
"This is perhaps a step in the wrong direction, but I wouldn't say go back to the old way because we have had it for years. Let's try and take a step back and figure out another route that is even more exciting," Hamilton said.
"Find out what the fans want? Has anyone asked? I advise they all start messaging into Formula 1 or whoever and say 'this is how we want it'."
The first race of the 2016 F1 season, the Australian GP, is exclusively live on Sky Sports F1. The race in Melbourne starts at 5am on Sunday March 20.
