Lewis Hamilton said Mercedes return to contending at the top of the F1 grid had been a "long time coming for us" after they locked out the second row at the Spanish GP and he personally delivered the best qualifying result of his disappointing season. And the seven-time world champion, who will start inside the top four for the first time in 15 races, is not ruling out what would be a first race win since December 2021 either after qualifying in what he termed a "beautiful" third-position starting spot directly behind polesitter Lando Norris and second-placed Max Verstappen for the long run down to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya's first corner of Sunday's 2pm race. Hamilton out-qualified George Russell - who claimed pole in the first significant example of a belated Mercedes renaissance last time out in Canada - for just the second time this season.
With Hamilton 0.002s faster than the younger Briton, they start a race in the top four together for the first time since last October's Qatar GP. "It has been a long time coming for us as a team," an encouraged Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 .
"For us to be in this position where we get a third and a fourth and are starting to be more consistent in that realm is huge. "Really big huge thanks to everybody back in the factory because it really is down to everyone there who have put the extra hours in to bring upgrades, bring new parts, keep refreshing them. "To be designing and really assisting in moving this car in the right direc.