F1: Hamilton Pleased With Second In COTA Qualifying

Lewis Hamilton starts between the Red Bulls in the United States GP...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted November 17, 2012 Austin, TX

Lewis Hamilton has spent his entire career up until now with McLaren. (Photo: Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton followed his Abu Dhabi pole with another great performance to secure second place behind Sebastian Vettel in Austin qualifying

Hamilton, who missed out on pole by a tenth of a second, starts on the less-favored dirty side.

“I was very, very happy with my lap,” said Hamilton. “I saw in Q2 that they (Vettel and his Red Bull team) were obviously massively quick. I think it was a second or something like that, nine-tenths. I didn’t know where I was going to find that, so I thought that the Red Bulls would be in the lead – but I just went into Q3 and pushed as hard as I could, went in really hard and just gave absolutely everything.

“I seemed to find a little bit more time at the last sector, on the actual lap that I did; it was two laps consecutive. Surprisingly, the second lap was even quicker, even though I’d already just done a fast lap. And on that lap, just I think way on the limit everywhere. A couple of oversteer moments; I think I lost about a tenth at the last corner. The thing is I gained it on the way in and lost it on the exit.”

Hamilton stressed that tires will be the big story on Sunday.

“Looking after tires is going to be quite difficult tomorrow,” the McLaren driver said. “Obviously, it’s quite a demanding circuit for tires with the overheating of the surface of the tires, so I don’t know. I hope I can get away well. It’s a difficult circuit to follow, I think, because it’s so fast. Position will be everything.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

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