“But tomorrow is the most important day. We had some difficult races in
the past, so hopefully I’ll try to redeem myself tomorrow and as long as we
can get some strong points for the team as they have worked hard. I hope
tomorrow me and Jenson can repay them.”
Hamilton’s reluctance to get carried away may also have stemmed from Red
Bull’s vastly-improved performance on Saturday.
Having been nowhere on a very wet Friday, new double world champion Sebastian
Vettel wound up pushing Hamilton close in qualifying, posting a time just
two tenths off pole and a tenth ahead of the second McLaren of Jenson
Button.
The German then predicted that tyre wear would be the key issue on Sunday.
Tyre manufacturer Pirelli are predicting three to four stops per driver
during the race. It is this area in which Hamilton has often struggled in
the past.
Telegraph Sport columnist David Coulthard wrote only this weekend that until
he can learn to adapt to the new regulations, which place as much emphasis
on pacing as raw pace, he will struggle to win consistently.
Red Bull will be hoping that proves to be Hamilton’s downfall again on Sunday.
The Milton Keynes-based team, who will wrap up the constructors’ title on
Sunday if they can gain more points than McLaren, would have broken the
record for successive pole positions in Korea had Vettel or Mark Webber been
on pole. They had taken every one sine Brazil last year when Williams’ Nico
Hulkenburg achieved a freak result.
But an unusual qualifying strategy suggested the team had already turned their
attention to the race.
Both Red Bull drivers took the unusual step of starting qualifying on a new
set of super-soft ‘option’ tyres, which are usually reserved for the final
phase when the top grid positions are settled.
Pirelli have provided the soft and super-soft compounds in Korea and Red Bull
have chosen to save all their unused sets of soft ‘prime’ tyres for the
race.
“We saved all our prime tyres which is the difference and will be crucial
for tomorrow,” Vettel said. “We are in a good position. It’s not a
long way down to the first corner, tyre wear will be crucial, Jenson did a
good job in the last race, so that again will be important again.
“McLaren were very competitive on Friday. I know the [wet] conditions were
different but they were a fair chunk ahead of us and once again we pushed
them very hard and got closer than expected.”
Button, who arrived at this far-flung track 250 miles south of Seoul off the
back of two wins in five races, will also be hoping tyre wear proves
decisive given his proven ability to conserve rubber.
“We can race very well from here,” he said. “We haven’t got a clue what’s
going to happen with tyre degradation on high fuel but I’m looking forward
to the challenge.”
Elsewhere, Felipe Massa out-qualified his disgruntled Ferrari team-mate Fernando
Alonso, who was running with a new front wing, to claim sixth on the grid.
While Britain’s third driver, Paul di Resta, lines up in ninth ahead of his
Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil after the team again chose not to set a
fastest lap in the third and last stage of qualifying.
With no disrespect to Di Resta, however, all eyes on Sunday will be at the
front of the grid to see whether Hamilton can make further inroads on his
road to redemption.
The Briton spoke this week of rediscovering his “mojo”. He has made a start.