F1: Hamilton Happy For Karting Pal Rosberg

Formula 1

F1: Hamilton Happy For Karting Pal Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton was genuinely pleased to see Nico Rosberg win his first career pole in China...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted April 14, 2012 Shanghai (CHN)

Lewis Hamilton remains hopeful of a good result in China, despite his five-place penalty dropping him back to seventh on the grid.

After qualifying, Hamilton was genuinely pleased for his former karting teammate Nico Rosberg, who beat to him to head the times.

“It wasn’t such a bad lap, but I’m pleased to say congratulations to Nico,” said Hamilton. “It’s fantastic to see him up there and for us to qualify on the front row, for me, is a quite a cool feeling because we were teammates back in 2000 and good friends from way before that.

“We always dreamed of being here on the front row and racing in Formula One and here we are. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to have that front row, but I’ll just have to work my hardest to try to catch him up.”

Hamilton aborted his last lap: “I probably could have gone a tenth quicker but it was very close. It wasn’t enough to close the gap to Nico. No one else was improving on their times, so it was important to try to save the tires.

Hamilton admits that the race won’t be easy but he thinks he has a good car.

“I have a lot of work ahead of me. Just moving forward is what I’ll be aiming for, and obviously to finish the race," Rosberg said. "Then we’ll just see what happens from there. You know anything can happen here with the weather. These guys are going to be massively quick, so I wish them all the best, but I just hope me and Jenson (Button, teammate) can make our way forward and score some valuable points.

“We’re in a good position, I think. I made some good setup changes to the car, it feels good, particularly for the long runs. It’s going to be tough for sure; there are a lot of good drivers ahead of me but I’ll be pushing as hard as I can.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.