Lewis Hamilton rues lost pole chance as Ferrari struggle to match rivals in Spain

Here's the thing about racing: you can fight your way to provisional pole and still find yourself staring up at the timing board wondering where the ultimate speed went. Lewis Hamilton looked genuinely capable of taking pole position for the inaugural race at the Madring before ultimately slipping back to P4 on the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix.

It was a wild turnaround for the seven-time World Champion, who headed into Qualifying on the back foot. He crashed head-on into the barrier at the final corner in Free Practice 3 and eventually had to stop his damaged car after the team called for him to pull over on the way back to the pits.

Yet that lost track time earlier on Saturday didn't stop him from topping the charts with provisional pole after the first flying laps in the pivotal Q3 session. But when the dust settled, Hamilton slipped down to fourth in the final reckoning despite improving his time and finishing less than two tenths behind polesitter, Lando Norris.

"The only thing to say about FP3 is nothing. Qualifying was pretty decent," said Hamilton when asked to reflect on his day. He added that he had generally been feeling pretty decent, noting that it takes everything for them to be able to compete with the two powerhouse motors ahead, specifically pointing to Mercedes and McLaren. "They just seem to be able to turn the engine up or something when we get to Qualifying which we can't match. We've got to work harder."

Meanwhile, Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc finished directly behind Hamilton and was also within two tenths of Norris' top time. The Monegasque driver admitted that he felt he had over-driven in the final segment of Qualifying.

"I think the lap was pretty good in Q3, it's a tricky Qualifying where you've got to go fully committed into Q3 and I did that," Leclerc said. He felt he may have gone over the limit a little in some corners and lost a bit on top of losing down the straights because of running the older spec engine. But he took responsibility, adding, "at the end, that's on me. I think we did a good job today and we maximised our potential."