Lewis Hamilton lamented that he “still lost performance” in qualifying compared to practice despite securing third spot on the grid at Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Hamilton ensured Mercedes’ encouraging recent upturn continued in Barcelona as he and team-mate George Russell managed to lock out the second row of the grid.
However, the Briton expressed that his Mercedes W15 continued to be difficult to limit on the edge as he out-qualified Russell for only the second time in nine rounds.
“I think it’s been okay,” he said. “It’s good to be back up here. It’s great to see that we’re progressing.
“We’ve seen in the last couple of races that we’re slowly climbing closer to the guys up front.
“I think there’s a little bit more performance in the car today, but it’s really on the knife edge.
“We’ve got some improvements to make to the car, but as I said, I’m really happy to be here.
“This P3 is a pretty good spot to be in for the start of that long straight down to Turn 1.”
Hamilton conceded his three-tenth gap to Lando Norris and Max Verstappen showed the margin that Mercedes still has to make up to be competing at the sharp end.
But the seven-time F1 champion took promise from the German squad continuing to remain competitive on a conventional track as he teased more updates to come.
“Three-tenths off. It’s a pretty big chunk,” he conceded. “For a track like this, it’s not too bad.
“I think, as I said, through the lap, there’s a little bit of time. Probably could have been two-tenths, but still they have a slight advantage.
“For us to be that close on a track like this is a real good showing that we’re going in the right direction.
“As I said, we’ve got some improvements that we need to bring over the next few races in order for us to be properly in range of those guys.”
Hamilton had been at a loss over recent events in Monaco and Canada to explain how his blistering speed through practice had deserted him when it mattered most.
But while he appeared to overcome that weekend, Hamilton divulged that he was unable to extract the maximum in qualifying when he explored the limits of the W15.
“I still feel like I’ve lost performance going into it,” he contended.
“I’ve still lost a little bit going into quali or from my perspective, maybe they just move forward, but I definitely feel like there was a little bit more.
“But just as you start to push the car it doesn’t like it.
“In practice, when you leave a little bit of margin in the car, it feels quite nice, but it’s when you start to really lean on it to try and get that extra bit of a lap out where we really struggle and I think it’s a little bit with tyres. So when you saw in P1, I was seven-tenths down due to my issues with the blankets and then we got it sorted for the following sessions.
“So that puts you a little bit on the back foot but otherwise the car, it’s good that we’re up here and it’s the best qualifying I’ve had this year, so I’m really grateful for it.”
Although he will be positioned right behind the top two on the starting grid, Hamilton has cautioned that he is more concerned with the Ferrari drivers in his mirrors.
“I think the bigger concern probably is the Ferraris behind us,” he warned. “We all were in half a tenth, I think, from third to fifth. I think it was fifth or sixth.
“And they had an upgrade this weekend, so I think their long pace looked quite strong. So I think it’s more working together as a team and trying to hold position at least.
“If we happen to have more pace available to us and we’re able to hold on to these guys, then it’s game on.
“But we really won’t know until tomorrow. And degradation is always the key here.
“And when you have a really good rear end, you can also save your balance, but you can save the rear tyres. So that’s going to be key for tomorrow.”
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