Lewis Hamilton: We have a race in Barcelona! Now let's fight Mercedes!

Saturday, 13 June 2026 at 23:02

Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari finally has a genuine chance to take the fight to Mercedes after qualifying second for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, ending a difficult weekend with one of his strongest performances since joining the Scuderia.

The seven time Formula 1 World Champion will line up alongside polesitter George Russell after producing a lap that left him less than a tenth of a second shy of pole position.

The result marked a significant turnaround after Hamilton spent much of the weekend struggling with balance and tyre management: "It feels great to be up here. Honestly, this weekend has been so difficult. Normally it's ok to miss P1, but it had a huge offset.

"In P2 I was just over a second off and I didn't quite feel comfortable. These tyres only last one lap, so you only have two shots at it in each session. In P3 I was easily four or five tenths off and I was thinking where I was going to get that pace," Hamilton said after qualifying.

Ferrari arrived in Barcelona with a substantial upgrade package, but Hamilton admitted he was unsure whether it would be enough to close the gap to Mercedes.

The breakthrough came between final practice and qualifying, Hamilton revealed: "Between FP3 and Qualifying I went off the track to my motorhome, came back and in Q1 I was first, so I knew I had a good balance and was comfortable.

Hamilton finds confidence when it mattered

Still not over that lap from LH 👏 pic.twitter.com/O7a2Gu4pnz
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 13, 2026

Hamilton continued: "Q2 was a little bit harder with traffic. The Mercedes guys did a good lap and congrats to George, but we are in a good position to be able to fight tomorrow. We have a race."

All weekend we have been four tenths off these guys. Even with the upgrade we thought that's maybe where we were. For us to be that close, less than a tenth, is a real showing of the hard work everyone has done to bring these upgrades to the track."

The Briton later explained that changes made after final practice transformed his confidence: "I’m really pleased with today’s result. Starting on the front row in Barcelona is a great outcome, especially after a difficult start to the weekend.

"I wasn’t fully comfortable with the balance and struggled to get the tyres in the right window. Even this morning, I didn’t have the feeling in the car I wanted."

Hamilton credited Ferrari's engineers: "After FP3 we made some changes, reset, and took a step forward when it mattered. From Q1 onwards I found the confidence to put the laps together. The team did a great job and the upgrades are working as intended, so a big thank you to everyone in Maranello."

Vasseur: Lewis has been getting stronger all season

lewis hamilton ferrari f1 barcelona qualifying

While pleased with qualifying, Hamilton made it clear his focus is on Sunday afternoon: "We've got to keep pushing and developing. I'm hoping tomorrow we can squeeze more out of this and keep up with these guys for once.

"There’s still a race to run and it won’t be easy, but I’ll give everything. Hopefully we can fight the Mercedes and stay at the front. I love this circuit and I’m excited to see what we can do," added Hamilton, who has not won a Grand Pirx since 2024.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur commented: "Lewis has been getting stronger all season and he arrived here in Barcelona with a lot of confidence. He knew we had the updates and he built up his pace over all the sessions. Tomorrow in the race we can play our cards to bring home a strong team result."

After weeks of steady progress, Hamilton now finds himself on the front row with a chance to challenge Russell into Turn 1. For Ferrari, Barcelona could provide the clearest indication yet of whether their latest upgrades have genuinely brought them into the fight at the front.