F1 | Hamilton: “Ideal start for us, happy to be here”

Lewis Hamilton finished the qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, the first appointment of the season, with the second time, just 12 thousandths behind the poleman of the day, Valtteri Bottas. The Englishman praised the team's continuous commitment to always seeking the limit:

“An excellent job by Valtteri, an ideal start to the season for us, I'm happy to be here. Year after year we are proving that we are the best team and it is due to the open mind that we always have in the team. The guys work hard but are never too stubborn to admit they made mistakes, we keep pushing ourselves to the limit, there is no politics within our team. We are all united and push together in the same direction and I think that's why every year we come back and we are always the best. We're not always fixated on the same ideas."

The six-time world champion admitted that he was not distracted by Bottas' off-track exit:

“I got to turn 4 there was a lot of dust, I didn't know where the car was but then I saw that Valtteri rejoined the track and luckily he maintained his position”.