Lewis Hamilton is enjoying his front-row start for the Spanish Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion is not dwelling on the fact that he missed pole position by just 64 thousandths of a second. The Ferrari driver was leading the timesheets until the final straight, but found himself with a depleted battery at the decisive moment of the lap.
Lewis Hamilton had not started from second place on the grid since the 2024 British Grand Prix with Mercedes. The British driver is full of confidence because he feels he is contributing to Ferrari’s resurgence, with the Scuderia finally able to challenge at the front in qualifying.
“Considering that I was four tenths off the pace in FP2 after missing the first practice session, I can only be very happy. Of course, I’ll go back and review the data because there is always something you can gain here and there, but first of all I need to thank everyone at the factory because they brought some important upgrades. It’s fantastic to see how much innovation is taking place. That makes a huge difference when you get to the track, and I can really feel that momentum,” Lewis Hamilton explained.
Mercedes, with George Russell, still ended up on top, albeit by the narrowest of margins.
“Obviously, the Mercedes cars are incredibly strong and beating them won’t be easy at all. But today we managed to beat one of them, and tomorrow we need to beat the other one as well. It will be a difficult task because they have won every race so far, but it’s not impossible. Tomorrow will require an absolutely perfect performance from all of us: the strategy, my driving, the start, the balance, tyre degradation and tyre management. But I want to try. I want to do something special tomorrow.”
The SF-26 appears to have taken an important step forward thanks to the upgrade package that made its debut in Barcelona. The question now is whether the car is capable of winning races.
“This car will win races, I’m sure of it. I say that because of the development path we are following and because of how hard everyone is working. I’m convinced that at some point we will be able to fight for a victory, and I hope it starts tomorrow because we have never been this close in qualifying.” – the seven-time world champion pointed out.
One of the biggest concerns heading into the race will be the extremely high temperatures. Tyre wear is expected to be a major factor, with many anticipating at least a two-stop strategy.
“Yes, tyre management will be crucial tomorrow. It always is here in Barcelona. The track temperature was around 50 degrees, which is crazy. Yesterday during the race simulations the cars were sliding more than ever, and tyre degradation was twice as high as expected.”
“I think the Ferrari was in a much better window today and I hope degradation will be lower tomorrow. Obviously, I’ll be fighting against two Mercedes cars, which makes our strategy more complicated. And there is a long run down to Turn 1, so we will need a really good start. Out of all the starts this season, this is the one we need to execute best in order to put the car where it belongs.” – the British driver concluded.
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