Hamilton: My lap could’ve been faster!

Editor

Replicating last year, Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for a second consecutive year ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix, claiming that his fastest lap could have been quicker than his initial 1:32.850.

Hamilton topped both FP2 and FP3 and continued his impressive speed all the way into qualifiers.

The Brit continuously kept ahead of his team-mate and rival Nico Rosberg, who qualified P2 on the Sepang International Circuit.

“It will be a close race because they [rivals] have very good long runs,” the World Champion told Sky Sports.

“But I think we were looking pretty good also.

“The car felt fantastic today, I really enjoyed it. The lap? It could have been faster!”

“This has been a night and day difference to the weekend I had in Singapore. In Singapore, say you have 10 laps in a practice session, I finished two of them. The mechanics have been great leading up to Malaysia, as they have been all season, and the car felt fantastic.

“I’ve been here since Saturday, for sure there has been nothing else to do than focus on this weekend, which is definitely a good thing. We had work on Tuesday and Wednesday and like the other things I do I don’t feel like it’s a distraction.

The pole sitter also went onto add that he will be doing everything in his power to reduce the nine-point deficit he has with Championship leader Rosberg, and said that he is not concerned about the weak starts he has been suffering all season.

“I don’t feel anything is going to stop us [tomorrow],” he continued.

“As a team we have great pace and if you look at the last race, we had pretty good starts and we continuously work on that. That’s not something I’m going to let in my mind. I’m thinking of getting a launch off the grid and the car feels really good on the long runs.”