Hamilton sets podium target for Spanish GP after moving ‘in the right direction’ with P5 Qualifying result

Lewis Hamilton was left with mixed feelings following Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, acknowledging that fifth on the grid is “not where we wanted to be” but “definitely an improvement from where we’ve been”.

Hamilton headed into the grid-deciding session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya off the back of three challenging practice sessions, which included various issues and at one point prompted him to describe his SF-25 as “undriveable”.

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He put those to one side to safely reach Q3, though, with a tidy final run promoting him to P5 – his best main Qualifying result of the season since March’s Chinese Grand Prix, where the Briton also starred in the Sprint.

Asked for his feelings about Qualifying after that tough first day in Spain, Hamilton said: “Definitely an improvement from where we’ve been, definitely an improvement I would say from my Qualifying side.

“I’m relatively happy with it… we’re not P3, and we’re definitely not where we wanted to be.”

He continued: “I think the car is moving in… set-up wise and just process wise, I think this weekend has gone in the right direction.

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“I think we had some problems through some of the practice sessions with like… a steering wheel issue we had in the second one and also some downforce issue we had in P2, which really kind of… it was 2% of aero performance from the front-end we were missing.

“To have recovered and got the car in a good place, I’m relatively happy.”

As for his race day hopes, with the two McLarens, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and George Russell’s Mercedes sitting just ahead of him, Hamilton signed off: “Ah, it’s going to be close. It’s really close between us all, so I’m going to try and get on the podium for once!”

Hamilton’s team mate, Charles Leclerc, had to settle for seventh position after a Q3 session compromised by a lack of new soft tyres – the Monegasque instead hedging his bets for what is set to be a baking hot race day.

“I mean, the run plan we had no choice – I had no tyres anymore,” said Leclerc, having posted just one flying lap in Q3. “I think we were one of the only cars that had four [sets of] softs going into quali, which was very difficult already.

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“We [also] had to go out in Q1 once again, and there we… I mean, we sacrificed another soft, so I only had like three new softs for Q1, Q2 and Q3, against others that had five new softs. It was a bit tricky, but it’s the way it is.

“I hope that our tyre choice will pay off for tomorrow, because on the other hand we more new [sets of mediums and hards] than others. I hope it will pay off.”