"Nervous" Hamilton hails late set-up changes for record F1 lap

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton revealed he was "nervous" about a host of "big set-up changes" ahead of qualifying before eventually setting the fastest lap in F1 history.

taking his 94th career pole position at the Italian Grand Prix

The reigning champion beat his team-mate Valtteri Bottas by just 0.069secs to claim the 94th pole position of his F1 career as Mercedes continued its streak of front row lock-outs in 2020.

Hamilton clocked a record-setting lap at 1:18.887secs, with an average speed of 264.362km/h, but conceded there were some nerve-jangling moments.

"Just in terms of timing, when they put us out on track, and yeah, it wasn’t the easiest," said Hamilton. "You saw how close it was between us all.

"I think it demanded a clean lap and I think I got that on both. So I’m generally really happy with the actual laps I did and Valtteri was very close, pushing."

Hamilton then revealed he had made some significant changes in his set-up following FP3, where he almost crashed into a queue of cars in the final sector, acknowledging he was not sure whether it was actually going to prove advantageous.

"I made some big changes coming into qualifying so I was a little bit nervous going in that it was the right thing to do, but it worked just fine."

Bottas was left frustrated to again be pipped by his team-mate by the smallest of margins and the Finn believes the lack of tow in Q3 may have cost him pole.

"It was really close, as I was expecting," he said.

"I was running first this weekend. Not sure with the tow. I didn’t obviously have any, except in Q2 at the end I had, and it kind of felt, again, a bit of a benefit with that.

"In the end I was on my own, which is not a bad place to be, but obviously didn’t get any gains on the straight line."

Before you go...

Hamilton sets fastest lap in F1 history, Ferrari suffer 36-year embarrassment

FIA surprise as no penalties handed out after Hamilton FP3 near-miss

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