Lewis Hamilton credited a late simulator session on Friday in enabling him to top qualifying for Formula 1’s British Grand Prix.
The restructured timetable at Silverstone, with the day’s sole practice session commencing at 14:30 local time, gave Hamilton the opportunity to drive Mercedes’ simulator.
Its factory is located at Brackley, where Mercedes is based, just a few miles away from Silverstone.
Hamilton went on to top qualifying, just 0.075s faster than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, and will start Saturday’s inaugural Sprint from the front of the pack.
“I was in the sim this morning, just using it as a practice session because it’s the first time we’ve ever had a morning free,” Hamilton explained.
“Just putting in the time, trying to give absolutely everything and leave no stone unturned.
“I was like ‘look, we’re not going to sit around and waste time, let’s get to it’. So we did a practice session this morning in there and just trying to develop it, trying to give the guys as much information as possible as we’re developing the car.
“We’re squeezing absolutely every ounce of performance from this thing and it was holding together today, so I’m over the moon.”
Hamilton’s first lap was enough to be provisionally fastest and he was up on his benchmark through the second run prior to a mistake into Vale.
Verstappen, following Hamilton on track, was able to improve his own lap time but fell short of denying the Briton top spot, to the delight of the 86,000 spectators in attendance.
“That first lap was great, the second one was looking even better but just lost the back-end in that last corner so my heart was in my mouth as I crossed the line, but I could see the crowd,” he said.
“It was really reminiscent of my first pole here in 2007 and I couldn’t have done it without these guys here, so a big, big thank you.”
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