Lewis Hamilton was quick to praise his teammate Valtteri Bottas after the Finn powered to pole position for the 2020 Emiglia Romana Grand Prix, but at the same time the World Champion was not impressed with his own lap.
Speaking after the Q3 shootout where he briefly held top spot, until Valtteri hooked it up to knock him a perch down with a lap a tenth quicker when it mattered; the #77 car will line-up on pole with the #44 car beside it.
Afterwards, Lewis said in parc ferme at Imola, “Valtteri did a great job this afternoon and it was a piss poor final lap from me, but these things happen and you can’t always get it perfect.
“This circuit is unbelievable, it’s a classic with amazing history, and the speeds that we are going round it are pretty mind-blowing; I’m so grateful to be here and to have the performance that we have, which is really remarkable.
“The tyres are working better here than they did in Portugal last weekend but it was still a real challenge out there today. For tomorrow, I’m pretty certain we will see quite a boring race, because the track is quite narrow and there’s nowhere you can really pass after the first chicane.
“So, it’s going to be a tough challenge when following, but hopefully the DRS will give us opportunities into the first braking zone. We saw Max was very strong on his race runs this morning, so he will be a threat.
“I’m just going to give it everything I’ve got tomorrow and see where we get to” added Lewis who will be hunting his 93rd Grand Prix win on Sunday as he marches towards a seventh title. Only teammate Valtteri his obstacle.