The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will be taking off from the front row of tomorrow’s grid at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
After a disaster struck the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, the chance of pole was snatched up by the British world champion in this epic title fight that will likely go to the end of the season.
Speaking after Qualifying this evening, Hamilton said they’re struggling to get heat into the tyres despite the warm temperatures, but that he hopes together, he and Bottas will do a good job.
“This place is one of the hardest tracks to get right, I was on the limit the whole way round and the car was on a knife-edge,” he said.
“Trying to pull out the maximum with the tyres was so tough. It’s difficult to understand why – it’s so warm here but we were having trouble getting temperature in the front and rears at the same time to have grip at the start of the lap.
“I’m very proud and thankful that we were able to put it on the front row for tomorrow, it’s going to be an intense race.
“It’s always important to have Valtteri beside me, particularly in this part of the year, he’s been driving exceptionally well and hopefully tomorrow we can do a good job together.”
Valtteri Bottas then added: “You get such an adrenaline rush from this track! Tomorrow’s going to be hard, this place is so intense but at least we’re starting in the best places.
“Given how tricky qualifying was today, it’s a great result.
“Starting on the left side tomorrow is definitely going to be dusty but I’ll be trying hard to keep position.
“This is one of the toughest tracks of the year, both mentally and physically, which is exciting because come tomorrow, anything can happen.”
