"That's not something l am letting in my mind" pole-sitting Lewis answers when reminded of poor 2016 starts
Monday 3 October 2016 08:24, UK
A fired-up Lewis Hamilton has shrugged off focus on his poor pole-to-victory conversion in 2016 by saying he cannot foresee anything stopping him winning Sunday's Malaysia GP.
The world champion, who has fallen eight points behind team-mate Nico Rosberg in their exclusive battle for the world championship, will start the race from pole position after beating his team-mate by almost half a second.
On the evidence of both qualifying and practice, when Hamilton has consistently been at least half a second clear of Rosberg and the chasing pack, only a poor getaway realistically stands between the Englishman and his first victory since the summer break.
Race starts have been Hamilton's Achilles heel this season, but the Mercedes driver countered: "Honestly I don't think anything is going to stop us.
"We have great, great pace and in the last race we had a pretty good start. It's something we are constantly working on, so that's not something l am letting in my mind."
Hamilton has converted just three of this previous seven pole positions into victory this year - a statistic which was immediately seized upon by Rosberg, who won last month in Italy after Hamilton slipped to sixth off the line.
"We've seen this year that qualifying hasn't been decisive and there will be many opportunities on Sunday - the start, notably," Rosberg told Sky F1.
Reminded of Hamilton's modest conversion rate this year, Rosberg joked: "I like that statistic!"
One additional variable the field will have to contend with at the start of the race is a liberal helping of cement dust which has been spread over the Sepang grid after a spillage during a support race.
"It's not great to have it there," admitted Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman himself has twice made poor starts in recent weeks with his tardy getaways in both Belgium and Singapore triggering crashes off the line.
"I didn't sleep a lot after Singapore," added the teenager, who lines up directly behind Hamilton this Sunday. "But we have made some changes to make the clutch more stable."
