Hamilton says he was "dissecting every corner" of Mugello circuit after difficult Friday, before bouncing back for pole on Saturday
Saturday 12 September 2020 21:30, UK
Lewis Hamilton said he was delighted to beat Valtteri Bottas to the first Tuscan GP pole after a "really uncomfortable" start to the weekend, admitting he had to "study" and "dissect every corner" to master the tricky Mugello circuit.
Hamilton had been on the back foot leading up to qualifying - behind Bottas in every practice session and even Q1 - but delivered when it mattered, out-pacing his Mercedes team-mate by 0.059s for a 95th F1 pole.
"This weekend has been so hard because Valtteri out the box was generally just much quicker," Hamilton told Sky F1's Rachel Brookes. "I was really uncomfortable with the balance of the car and I was just not driving that well all day [on Friday].
"I had to do a lot of studying last night to take steps back and understand and then come in today with a better frame of mind. I made those changes, then came into P3 and I was still behind - but I had made improvements.
"Then I had to make a big switch into qualifying, but even Q1 I was still not ahead of him.
"But I stayed positive, kept my head down, kept studying even between the sessions, and I was able to really execute the last two sessions."
Hamilton edged Bottas and Red Bull's Max Verstappen in Q2, and his quick first Q3 lap turned out to be crucial as the Englishman failed to improve on his last effort, while yellow flags ruined Bottas' hopes.
"I'm so, so happy," said Hamilton. "It doesn't matter how many poles you have, or how many races you do, it feels just as special as the first and just as challenging - if not more."
The picturesque yet ferocious Mugello circuit is making it's much-anticipated debut on the F1 calendar this year, with Bottas claiming it's already "one of the best" tracks in the sport.
"Honestly, we should come here every year," he said. "It goes really high on my list."
But Hamilton, while a huge fan of the track, struggled at first. Expanding on the issues he faced, he added: "Normally I thought one of my strengths was learning a circuit quite quickly.
"For this one, we went on the simulator which I never do - and I don't feel like I benefited particularly. Then getting here, there was a lot of work, the pressure was incredibly high.
"I was struggling to find the limit in certain sectors and Valtteri was miles ahead. If I hadn't have done the work I wouldn't have got the result we got.
"There's an incredible amount of detail that you have to go into, last night dissecting every single corner basically, and sector, really trying to fine tune that setup. There's a real science for it, and that's why I've got so much respect for all these drivers.
"Not just the ability to drive, but to understand these things... and be engineers at the end of the day."
