'I needed this pole', admits Hamilton

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Lewis Hamilton recorded his 74th pole position in Formula 1 this weekend after narrowly coming out on top in qualifying for the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix.

However, it was clear that this one meant more to him than many poles he had won in in the past.

"It was very close in qualifying, but very happy," he said. 'I needed this pole - I've not had a pole in a while."

In fact it's been less than two months since he was on pole for the season opener in Melbourne.

But it's a reflection of how disappointed he's been with his form over the first four races of 2018 that today's outcome was such a relief for the four-time world champion.

“It’s important for me to get back into a good position in qualifying, it’s usually a strength of mine," he acknowledged. "But I've had some tricky sessions since Melbourne.

"I'm pleased to be back in a good position with it. It has been a constant learning process with the tyres, getting them working in a very narrow window. But today we had them working.

"It was a very close qualifying. Ferrari looked to be sandbagging [until this afternoon] because they could," he added. “It took everything to get this result. To get a one-two in qualifying is fantastic for the team."

On his way to claiming pole Hamilton set a new track record at the recently resurfaced Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. He punched in an exceptional time in the middle sector of the race in particular.

"I was trying to go for every sector record," he laughed. "But anyway, I'll take the middle one!"

Hamilton and Bottas lock-out Barcelona front row for Mercedes

Hamilton was only four hundredths of a second faster than his team mate Valtteri Bottas, who will start alongside him on the front row for tomorrow's race.

"Valtteri has been driving exceptionally well," noted Hamilton. "It's fantastic for the team to get the front row and I know everyone will be very happy

The Finn was disappointed to lose out by such a slender margin, but otherwise sounded happy with the day's work.

"It was so close today like it's been all weekend," said Bottas. "Good fun.

"I ruined my first run in Q3 so I only had one chance in the last run. Got a decent lap, but it's a shame it's only four hundred.

"For us it was a perfect result today," he added. "But the race is tomorrow. We'll race hard and try and get the 1-2 we deserved in Baku.

"I am feeling really good in the car at the moment. Looking to tomorrow, I think we will be strong on race pace. I have some catching up to do overall in terms of the points, so I will be aiming to do as well as I can."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.