BUDAPEST, July 22 (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton has had more pole positions than any driver in Formula One history, but the Briton's 104th in Hungary on Saturday still felt like a first.
"It feels like my first pole, believe it or not," Hamilton said after beating Red Bull's runaway championship leader Max Verstappen by just 0.003 of a second.
"It feels strange to say that when there's 104 but I don't remember the last time I had a pole, it feels so long ago."
On Friday, when he was only 16th fastest, Hamilton said his car felt like the worst, but a day later and he was suddenly fastest -- in both final practice and qualifying after overnight tweaks.
The pole lap, he said, had felt like he was hardly breathing.
Persons:
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes team's, Red Bull, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Hamilton, Red, Max Verstappen, you've, Nico Rosberg, Alan Baldwin, Hugh Lawson
Organizations:
Formula, Saturday, Briton, Thomson
Locations:
BUDAPEST, Hungary, London