Breaking the Qualifying Curse at Spanish GP, Lewis Hamilton Reveals He ‘Didn’t Expect to Fight for Pole’

Lewis Hamilton has finally broken his qualifying ‘curse’ against George Russell, outqualifying him in Spain for only the second time this season. The 39-year-old was trailing 8-1 to Russell in Grand Prix qualifying before Barcelona. However, Hamilton put in a mighty effort to pip Russell by only two-thousandths of a second!

Hamilton’s lap time of 1:11:701 put him in P3 for the Grand Prix on Sunday with Russell lining up in fourth beside him. However, the seven-time champion was in contention for pole position as well. Still, like several other drivers, Hamilton lost out in the final sector to end up three-tenths short of pole-sitter Lando Norris.

After the session, Hamilton revealed his thoughts on how he did not expect to be in the fight for pole. As per Sky Sports F1’s live blog, he stated, “I didn’t expect to be in for pole necessarily but every now and then there looked to be bits that had us close. So to be there I am just grateful.”

The Briton also credited the engineers back at the Mercedes factory for putting in humongous efforts into getting the car to this level of performance. Their upgrades working in Monaco and Canada have boosted the Silver Arrows’ credentials and put them in the mix alongside Ferrari and McLaren, in pursuit of Red Bull.

Meanwhile, Hamilton also praised how well Russell did to back his qualifying lap and seal the second row of the grid. Hamilton stated, “George did a great job as well, so hopefully tomorrow we can apply the pressure on the guys in front.” However, Russell wasn’t all happy with Hamilton’s actions during the qualifying session.

George Russell lost his cool against Lewis Hamilton during the Spanish GP qualifying

Both Mercedes drivers were optimistic in Q3 to challenge for the front row at least if not pole position. However, during their first runs in the final 12 minutes of qualifying, Russell encountered a sluggish Hamilton on his prep lap and vented out his frustration on the team radio.

As per the BBC, the 26-year-old stated, “What the **** was Lewis doing prepping that lap.” This is not an uncommon occurrence as many drivers make mistakes and impede cars during qualifying while being on an out lap or a cooldown lap.

However, with both Mercedes cars on the same run plan, Russell’s frustration is evident at any unusual maneuver by Hamilton that may compromise his hot lap preparation. With Barcelona a track where maintaining the optimal tire temperature throughout the lap is key, the #63 driver was certainly frustrated with Hamilton’s actions.

However, his engineer told him to keep his head in the game and mentioned how they would “discuss it later”. For Mercedes’ sake, they would want to settle this matter as soon as possible.

Given how competitive both Hamilton and Russell were in Canada, they could once again hassle the top two as a team and create some chaos during the race on Sunday.