Hamilton : “I’ll be hoping for a day like the first year, 2007” – Post Qualifying Interview transcripted – 2023 Australian GP

F1 : The crowd are loving you here. You hope for some rain. It didn’t happen today, but it looked like pretty good today anyway. 

LH : Oh, yeah. I’m so happy with this. (he pauses) What’s up, Melbourne? How are you doing? I mean, this is a totally unexpected. Really, really proud of the team. George did a fantastic job there today. So for us to be up on the two front row is honestly a dream for us. We’re all working as hard as we can to get right back up the front and so to be this close to the Red Bull is honestly, it’s incredible. So I hope tomorrow we can give them a bit of a run for their money and we hope the weather is good. 

F1 : Your first fast lap, you put it on pole to begin with. There was a massive roar from the crowds, but we saw that in your second run you had a little bit of issues with traffic. Did that affect your second run? 

LH : The second lap wasn’t as good as obviously the first one. I mean, I did get a little bit further ahead in the last sector, but ultimately I lost out a little bit at the beginning, but I’m not disappointed. I’m super grateful for this position and I’m just going to work as hard as I can to try and move forward tomorrow. 

F1 : Well, you’ve got Fernando on the grid next to you tomorrow. Is that a challenge for you tomorrow? What is your goal ? 

LH : To get to first (laugh)! So…, yeah, all I to try and see… I’ll be hoping for a day like the first year, 2007. Turn one here would be awesome. I don’t know if anyone here remembers, but yeah, that would be awesome if we can do that!

F1 : Fantastic. Well, we’ll be here to watch it.

LH : Thank you.