Lewis Hamilton needed "absolute perfection" to beat Valtteri Bottas in Hungary

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton needed "absolute perfection" to beat Bottas in Hungary

Hamilton praise for Mercedes team-mate after Hungary qualifying

Sam Hall

Saturday 18 July 2020 16:27 Updated: 16:37

Lewis Hamilton claims he needed to be absolutely perfect to beat Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas to pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Mercedes smashed the field by almost a second at the Hungaroring, with Hamilton, in particular, claiming the 90th pole of his Formula 1 career with a new lap record at the circuit of one minute 13.447secs.

Appreciating Bottas keeps him honest, with the Finn just a tenth of a second down, Hamilton said: “Valtteri doesn’t make it easy for me at all, so it requires absolute perfection doing laps, and qualifying like that is something I enjoy the most.”

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When informed it was his 90th pole, Hamilton added: “I have to pinch myself, it just doesn’t register."

The laps posted by Hamilton and Bottas were remarkable, with the car appearing to be on rails at times given how the duo could throw the W11 into the corners.

“She’s definitely not on rails," said Hamilton. "I’m sure it looks like that maybe, compared to some other people, but it was really nicely hooked up today, and not far off the rails.”

Hamilton heads into the race with the chance to equal Michael Schumacher's record of the most wins at a single circuit, but the seven-time Hungarian Grand Prix winner says the job is far from done.

“It’s a long run down to turn one," said Hamilton. "Nothing’s a given here, so we’ve just got to do the work this evening, and ultimately I’ve got to deliver at the start tomorrow. It is quite a long race.

“We don’t know what this weather is going to do for us tomorrow, but I’ll have my head down and will be focussing as hard as I can to bring a one-two home for the team."

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