Lewis Hamilton’s Arch Rival Turns Fanboy After Mercedes Star Pips Max Verstappen With a Slight Difference

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton used to share one of the greatest rivalries that modern F1 has seen. However, even an arch-rival like Rosberg could not believe his eyes when Hamilton displayed absolute brilliance at the Hungarian GP Qualifying. The German essentially turned into a fanboy and showered praises on Hamilton after he pipped the untouchable Max Verstappen by just 0.003 seconds to claim pole position.

Since Hamilton lost the controversial 2021 championship, the Briton has been struggling to perform like he used to. Even though the lack of performance was mostly due to the car, even a nemesis like Rosberg could not help but applaud when Hamilton put in a sensational lap to claim his 104th pole position after a long wait of 595 days.

The fight for pole in Hungary was supposed to be between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. During their last runs in Q3, Verstappen failed to improve his set time of 1:16.612, which already had him on the provisional pole. Norris had the chance to steal the podium but failed after he set a time of 1:16.694.

Finally came Lewis Hamilton. The Briton crossed the line at the very end and managed to set a time of 1:16.609, beating out Verstappen by the finest of margins. Fans were sent into a frenzy as Hamilton screamed out in joy over the team radio, and Nico Rosberg believes that the lap Hamilton put in to clinch the pole was nothing less than a work of art.

Rosberg claims that the Lewis Hamilton lap was ‘perfection’

Rosberg spoke about Hamilton’s lap during the post-race show and described it as ‘perfection.’ Rosberg said, “Only Lewis Hamilton could do that on such days; no one could have gone, not even a hundredth quicker.”

Hamilton himself was visibly elated after he managed to grab the pole position. Talking after the Qualifying session, Hamilton explained how this pole felt like his first one. He revealed that he almost lost his voice because of how much he screamed in joy inside the car.

The seven-time world champion revealed that during the FP3 session in the morning, even though the car was feeling better than the day before, it wasn’t feeling as fast as the others. However, as they went through the Qualifying session, things started to get better.

The close battle energizes Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen was quite naturally disappointed to lose P1 to Hamilton. However, during the Post Quali interview, when asked whether a closer fight energizes him even more, Verstappen replied positively.

The Dutchman said, “Quali was exciting because every session you didn’t know who was going to be quickest, that’s a good thing.” However, he is confident that he could perform well in the race tomorrow.

As for Lewis Hamilton, he wants to study everything for the race and bring his A-game to the race. However, he knows that keeping Verstappen or Norris at bay will not be easy.