Lewis Hamilton is certain his McLaren was quick enough to take pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix and regrets not putting in a banker lap before Sergio Perez's big accident.
Unlike the other frontrunners, Hamilton waited until the final five minutes before heading out to complete his first flying lap in Q3. As he was on track Perez crashed heavily at the Nouvelle Chicane and the session was stopped with Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull at the top of the timesheets.
Once Perez had been taken to hospital, Hamilton returned to the track but a long wait at the end of the pit lane meant he set the seventh fastest time, 1.7 seconds off Vettel.
"After the restart in Q3, I had no temperature in my tyres or my brakes, so I didn't manage to pull a great lap together," he said. With hindsight, we probably should have put a banker in.
"I felt I'd been driving well all weekend and I had the pace to be on pole - I'm certain of that, in fact. I'll do my best from my grid slot - and, while it'll be tough to win from there, I won't give up. I'll keep pushing. My job will be to get as many points as I can tomorrow."
Perez suffered no major injuries but is staying in hospital overnight to recover from concussion.
"I hope Sergio is well - my prayers and thoughts go out to him and his family," said Hamilton. "He was driving so well this weekend - you could see that from the onboard footage - but it was a very heavy shunt. You never want to see another driver get injured, and it's at the back of your mind when you go back out, but you need to stay professional.
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