F1: Hamilton Relieved To Secure Second

Formula 1

F1: Hamilton Relieved To Secure Second

Lewis Hamilton feels fortunate to be lining up in P2 on the Canadian GP grid...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted June 09, 2012 Montreal (CAN)

Lewis Hamilton's lengthy run at McLaren will end soon. (Photo: Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton admits he’s surprised to be starting the Canadian GP from as high as second after struggling to get the best out of the tires in qualifying.

Hamilton had to use up a set of supersofts in Q1 as he tried to improve the car, but still managed to beat everyone but Sebastian Vettel. Meanwhile, his teammate Jenson Button ran out of supersofts before Q3.

“We were struggling throughout qualifying,” said Hamilton. “Yesterday we had very good pace in the cooler conditions, but as it got hotter today we really, really struggled. So, I for one didn’t expect to be so far up. For Jenson, he just didn’t have more tires in Q3. I was fortunate enough just to make sure I got a good lap in Q2, which meant I still had one set [of supersofts] left. Otherwise, I probably would be a little bit further back, as well.

“I’ve fortunately got myself into a reasonably decent position, and I think yesterday when we did the long runs, they seemed to be OK, but now that it has got hotter, it’s going to change things, and it’s going to be tough. But we just have to do the best job we can and try to maximize on everything we do. We can still have a really good race, and get some really good points from where we are, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Hamilton says there could be different strategies in the race: “I think it’s definitely possible we will have slightly more stops than we did in the last race, so maybe a two or three stop, but we did see long runs yesterday that could lead into a one stop, but here the likelihood of a safety car is usually quite high. So with that in mind, people might prefer to do a one or two stopper; who knows?

“But it is dependent on the temperatures and how long the tires will last. Yesterday they lasted quite long, but today may be different and tomorrow may be different. I hope we don’t have any problems with it, but we will wait and see tomorrow.”

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.