Lewis Hamilton emerged from qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday in a far more upbeat mood than he had been 24 hours earlier at the Red Bull Ring.
While McLaren’s Lando Norris stormed to pole with a commanding advantage of over half a second, Ferrari showed strong form in Q3, with Charles Leclerc grabbing second and Hamilton taking fourth – his best qualifying result of the 2025 season so far.
After a frustrating Friday, Hamilton credited overnight improvements and praised his team’s operational performance during a session where both Ferraris delivered when it mattered.
“We definitely made some progress overnight,” Hamilton said. “I’m much happier with the car in Q3 and with the direction we went. It was really positive.”
The seven-time world champion admitted that a small error on his final run might have cost him a front-row start.
©Ferrari
“I’m edging closer in terms of performance of Charles, who's really, really used to the car, he hardly ever changes anything, so that's really positive,” he added.
“Also, I had more time in the lap. I was nearly 3 tenths up going into Turn 6 and I had a massive snap going in, and then I came across the line six tenths down. So that would have put me second.”
Hamilton’s Q3 effort puts him in a strong position to fight at the front on Sunday – a welcome change after a run of mixed results and ongoing adaptation to Ferrari’s 2025 package.
Ferrari's Finest Qualifying of the Year?
Hamilton was quick to highlight Ferrari’s precision and composure during qualifying, calling it their best Saturday execution of the season so far.
“I think operationally the team did a really good job today. It's the best qualifying process, operation that we've done,” he said.
“The guys in the garage always do an amazing job, but just how calm the guys were, the head engineers on the pit wall [were].
©Ferrari
“Their timing was spot on and when they got us into the pit lane, the gaps that have given us, staying out of the traffic management, not getting penalties for the traffic here, the turnarounds were just really well.”
New Floor, New Pace
Ferrari introduced a significant upgrade package at the Red Bull Ring, headlined by a revised floor. Revising his initial assessment from Friday, Hamilton believes it played a part in helping the team outperform both Red Bull and Mercedes.
Austrian Grand Prix - Qualifying results“The guys, they've definitely been able to extract more from the floor,” he said. “It was a really small but there's degradation in floors, so a new floor is always a little bit better.
“And then on top of that, the step of improvement in performance and so I'm really thankful to the team back at the factory for the work they've been able to bring.”
With Ferrari now appearing to have made a tangible step forward – and Hamilton showing signs of growing comfort within his new team – Sunday’s race could offer another important test in the Briton’s adaptation to life in red.
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