Johnny Herbert analyses Lewis Hamilton's pole lap in qualifying at the Singapore GP.
Singapore polesitter Lewis Hamilton has admitted he thought his chances of setting the pace in qualifying had gone when he locked up his tyres at the start of his final lap in the gripping night-time session.
For one of the first times in dry conditions this season it had looked as though Mercedes, polesitters at all but one race this year, might be outpaced over a single lap as Ferrari, Red Bull and Williams all took the fight to the hitherto all-conquering Silver Arrows' in a thrilling Q3.
Indeed, both Hamilton and team-mate Nico Rosberg were placed outside the top five after the first runs in the final shootout such was the competitive pace Mercedes' rivals were suddenly showing on the supersoft tyres.
Hamilton then appeared to shoot himself in the foot on his final effort when he locked his brake in a cloud of smoke into Turn One - however, despite Rosberg going faster to take provisional pole ahead of him, the Briton pressed on and crossed the line for his sixth pole of the year by a mere 0.007 seconds.
Given the precadiment Mercedes found themselves in at the start of Q3, Hamilton said their seventh front-row lockout of the year was particularly noteworthy.
Asked if he had deliberately left his best to last, Hamilton replied: 'Well that's always the plan - it doesn't always go to plan!
'But quite an exciting qualifying, I guess no one was really expecting to see so much difference and how close everyone was. I did some good laps in the first and second qualifying sessions and saw the Ferraris were very, very close. Then obviously to end up the way it did was good for our team.
'My last lap I locked up into Turn One and lost a bit of time, but still managed to pull it back later on in the lap. At that point I honestly thought that 'perhaps it's over' because I lost over a tenth and a half, but I just kept going and it got better and better throughout the lap.'
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