Hamilton 'forced to eat his words' after qualifying

Lewis Hamilton admitted that he would have to 'eat' his earlier downbeat comments after a surprise successful qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday.

“It was interesting because during the session I was thinking, ‘Damn, yesterday I said I wasn’t going to get into Q3 or into the top ten, and basically I was eating my words’!"

Hamilton successfully made it to the final round of qualifying and finished in fifth place. A grid penalty for Alpine's Pierre Gasly means he will actually start tomorrow's race from fourth on the grid.

“It was a really, really great session and massively encouraging to us to be competitive," declared Hamilton. "I couldn’t believe I was fighting for the top three at one stage.

“Of course my last lap wasn’t the dream lap. I was second basically all the way until turn 10 and I had a snap [of oversteer] and lost two-tenths.

"On one side I’m gutted [to miss out] but the other side of me is really grateful just to be up there, up in the fight and have that pace.”

Hamilton was especially lucky to survive a clash with his Mercedes team mate near the end of the second round of qualifying, which forced him to take to the grass and left him with damage to his front wing endplate.

Fortunately his existing time was good enough to see him into Q3 and to contend for the top positions. He shrugged off the incident with Russell, who received a formal warning from the race stewards for an "abnormal change in direction", but no grid penalty.

"It was a lack of communication that we should have handled in the garage," commented team principal Toto Wolff. "It was an intense moment at the end of Q2 though, so there is nobody we need to blame."

"The incident with George was just a miscommunication," Hamilton shrugged. "Obviously we made some contact and I put a wheel on the grass. The car didn't feel different afterwards though, so I think it will be okay."

• Read also: Verstappen on pole in Spain ahead of Sainz and Norris

The stewards determined that Russell “was looking forward and had not checked his mirrors” as he started a hot lap" and that the team had not warned him of the proximity of the second Mercedes.

The stewards noted that in mitigation, Russell was reacting to Carlos Sainz just in front of him who had just finished his fast lap, and had been forced to slow significantly to avoid impeding Sainz and Max Verstappen.

A warning means Russell keeps 12th place on the grid for tomorrow's race, starting just behind Red Bull's Sergio Perez. They're just two of the drivers who will be starting out of position tomorrow after a rain-hit qualifying.

Hamilton is hoping to make full use of the opportunity and to push for another podium finish - although he admits that a win is unlikely unless disaster befalls the pole sitter, Max Verstappen.

“My goal is to win somehow. I’m going to try and drive the wheels off the car and try and get up as high as I can," he said. "We couldn't compete with Red Bull - Red Bull are in another league - but we're coming!

"These upgrades have definitely worked, so a big thank you to everyone back at the factory," he continued. "We've made some great progress with the car. We've done some great work overnight and I was so much more confident in the car.

"I knew when I woke up this morning that I was on a mission, although I didn't expect we would be fighting for P2," he added. "Nevertheless, I really enjoyed driving the car today and I'm really encouraged to see where it is at."

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