Lewis Hamilton shocks rivals in Spain: even George Russell didn’t see it coming. George Russell admitted he expected McLaren to be Mercedes’ main rival in Barcelona qualifying.

A battle between former teammates

Lewis Hamilton’s remarkable turnaround in Barcelona left even George Russell surprised. After looking completely out of contention during Friday’s second practice session and still struggling in FP3, the Ferrari driver transformed his weekend by becoming one of the standout performers in qualifying, missing pole position by only a handful of thousandths of a second.

Russell, who secured pole for Mercedes by the narrowest of margins ahead of his former teammate, admitted during the post-qualifying press conference that he had expected McLaren to be Ferrari’s main rival in the fight for the front row. Instead, Lewis Hamilton emerged unexpectedly as one of the fastest drivers on the grid.

An unexpected challenger

“I think we have a really fantastic car,” George Russell said while reflecting on the weekend so far and looking ahead to Sunday’s race. “On Friday we showed really strong pace. Obviously Kimi will be a real threat, without any doubt. But Lewis genuinely surprised all of us with his speed.

“We all thought the battle in qualifying would be against McLaren. We managed to take a step forward compared to McLaren, but then from his very first lap in Q1, Lewis made us think: ‘Wow, where has all of this come from?’ So maybe he’ll have another surprise in store for us during the race as well.”

Hamilton dreams of a first Ferrari victory

For his part, Lewis Hamilton is targeting what would be his first win in Ferrari colours, although he knows another exceptional performance will be required to make it happen.

“It will definitely be difficult not having my teammate among the frontrunners, but I’ve been in this situation before,” Lewis Hamilton said during the press conference. “I think the run down to Turn 1 is long, especially from the dirty side of the grid, which is not ideal.

“These guys,” he added, referring to the Mercedes drivers, “will probably be very quick on the straights, just as they have been all season. I honestly don’t know whether I’ll be able to match their pace. We’ll find out in the race.”