Formula One news

Hamilton aiming for Q3 in qualifying

The McLaren team was happy to be back towards the sharp end of the classification after practice in Monaco on Thursday. With evidently more competitive cars at their disposal, Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen rounded off a positive day of practice with second and seventh positions respectively.

Equipped with a diamond studded helmet for this weekend, World Champion Hamilton had his best practice day of the season so far this season by finishing just over two tenths of a second slower than leader Nico Rosberg. The Englishman looked to have stolen the place by a thousandth of a second, however, until the German's Williams responded in the final moments.

Hamilton believes a top five could be possible for Saturday's grid

"Driving around Monaco is a spectacular sensation, you can't compare it to any other circuit," Hamilton said. "You get such a huge buzz here. I love this place, it reminds me of how much I love this sport, why I love racing and why I love Formula 1. From today's performance, I think Q3 is definitely possible on Saturday; I'm optimistic about shooting for the top five - I hope we can get there."

Held up no less than three times during the day, however, slower cars proved a frustration for team-mate Kovalainen. "Lots of traffic today - but that's normal for Monaco," he admitted. "Today's running tells us we'll be more competitive here; the team has worked very well and my car was in good shape straight away this morning. The most important thing is that we've made consistent improvements - we've made good progress on the setup and I've been dialling myself further into the car and the track on each run."

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