Hamilton rues late lost time in pole fight but pleased with Ferrari progress

Lewis Hamilton believes he lost out on at least second place as a result of his final sector after challenge for pole position but ending up fifth on the grid at the British Grand Prix.

Ferrari’s upgraded car showed signs of progress in Austria but has appeared even more competitive throughout the weekend at Silverstone, with both drivers quick from the start of Friday practice. Hamilton was up on the provisional pole position time set by Oscar Piastri with only Max Verstappen behind him, but then lost time in the final sequence of corners and was only fifth quickest, 0.203s off Verstappen’s excellent final effort.

“I just had understeer at Turn 16 and lost the time that I had,” Hamilton said. “It probably cost me at least second.

“I’m really pleased with the progress. I'm really pleased with the direction. My engineer and I have been really jelling a lot better in terms of how we set the car up. I was much happier in the car. The lap was really, really nice, up until the last corner. There was a bit of understeer –  it was the curb that put me a little wide, but then I just lost it. I think it was just over a tenth so that definitely would have probably put me on the front row.

“I don't know [what’s possible in the race]. I'm not even going to bother thinking about it. Tomorrow will be worse, maybe. I'll get some rest tonight and I'll come and attack as much as I can tomorrow.”

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With strong gusts of wind and a much cooler day than Friday, Hamilton acknowledged Ferrari might have lost some competitiveness as the weather changed, but is encouraged by the recent signs he is seeing from the team.

“The up and down conditions definitely were challenging," he said. "I think when it got a little cooler, it was definitely maybe not as good for us as it was when it was hotter.

“We are making progress. There's still more to make, but we obviously had the upgrade in the last race. We are improving our process, the way we go about our weekends. I definitely feel like we're punching out better results. So we've got to keep pushing.”