‘I left the track’: Lewis Hamilton reveals radical preparation for best-ever Ferrari F1 qualifying

Lewis Hamilton revealed he left the circuit ahead of his best-ever qualifying for Ferrari at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix on Saturday.

The 41-year-old, who has finished second on the podium in the last two rounds in Canada and Monaco, was within 0.064 seconds of pole position in Barcelona.

Mercedes’ George Russell, Hamilton’s former teammate, pipped the seven-time world champion to top spot with F1 world championship leader Kimi Antonelli in third place – the first time this season the Italian won’t start a grand prix on the front row.

Yet in his post-session interview, Hamilton divulged that he went back to his off-site motorhome in between final practice and qualifying, setting him up for a first-ever front row start in Ferrari red.

”It feels great to be up there with them [Mercedes drivers],” Hamilton said. “I left the track between P3 and qualifying, I went back to my motorhome, came back and was then first [in Q1].

“These guys did a great lap, congrats to George, but we’re in a good position to fight for tomorrow.

“All weekend we’ve been four-tenths off these guys – for us to be a tenth off, shows the hard work that’s been done. Big thank you to everyone back in Maranello, hopefully we can keep up with these guys tomorrow for once.”

While Hamilton was satisfied with his afternoon’s work, his teammate Charles Leclerc – quicker than the Brit in practice – crashed out at the start of Q3 in what seemed like a driver error.

Reigning world champion Lando Norris will start fourth on the grid with Max Verstappen in fifth.

For Russell, it was a much-needed pole position. The Brit trails his teammate by 68 points after a tough month or two.

“It’s been a great weekend so far, feel like my old self again,” he said. “The last few races haven’t been on our side, but clean slate this weekend, felt good and great to be on pole.

“It’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow, Lewis did an amazing job to get up there. We thought the fight was with us and McLaren. We’ll have a fight on our hands.”

The Barcelona-Catalunya GP starts at 2pm BST.