Lewis Hamilton believes "anything is possible" for him from third on the grid in Sunday's Monaco GP, although concedes the front-row starters are very quick.
Hamilton not ruling out first 2012 win from third on the grid.
Lewis Hamilton believes "anything is possible" for him around Monaco on Sunday from third on the grid, although the McLaren has admitted that overhauling the front-row starters will be a formidable challenge.
The McLaren driver was many pundits' pre-race favourite for both poleheading into this weekend but, while his progression through the knockout qualifying hour was far more serene than team-mate Jenson Button's, who dropped out in Q2, Hamilton couldn't quite get into the mix for the pole fight and ended Q3 with the fourth-fastest lap.
However, the fact surprise fastest man Michael Schumacher carried a five-place grid drop into the weekend means Hamilton is promoted a position on Sunday's grid, with now only Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg in front of him heading into the first corner.
"Anything is possible," he told
Sky Sports F1. "It's going to be so tough with the two guys ahead, they are very quick, and [I'm] very, very fortunate that Michael has his penalty. But he did a great job today and it was great actually to see Michael performing so well.
"I have no idea how tomorrow's going to go. I hope the weather stays good but if it rains a little I'll be grateful for it."
The 2008 World Champion ultimately ended up over two tenths of a second adrift of the fastest Q3 time but says he was pleased with laps on the whole and that he again enjoyed the qualifying hour.
"Very happy. Just happy that I improved every time I went out and really got everything from the car I possibly could," he said.
"I had a nice little near miss on my first run in Q3, but qualifying is so much fun. I've been enjoying it so much this year. You go out in Q1 and you don't push 100%, here particularly, and then Q2 a little bit more and then Q3 [you push] flat out.
"Just everything you can, even if it means you're going to crash, you have just got to push everything you can to just get that one millisecond and that's what I love about it."
