Hamilton takes P4 and a swipe at Verstappen: “Max isn’t up there”

The seven-time world champion was upbeat about the progress Ferrari has made — both in car performance and team execution. The Scuderia brought in multiple upgrades this weekend which focused on the floor of their car.

“Definitely made some progress. I was much happier with the car with Q3 and the direction we went is really positive,” Hamilton spoke to media including GPblog after the session. “I think we are etching closer in terms of performance towards Charles who is really, really used to the car, he hardly ever changes it. So I think that's really positive.”

His Ferrari teammate qualified in P2. However, Hamilton revealed just how close he came to securing P2 himself, only for a moment at Turn 6 to cost him valuable time.

When asked whether McLaren’s Lando Norris — who qualified on pole — simply had too much pace this weekend, Hamilton was candid in his assessment of the gap.

Looking ahead to Sunday, Hamilton is optimistic about his chances: “I'm grateful that we're in the second row at least and usually our race is better, our car is better in the race generally than it is in the qualifying. So we've improved the qualifying this weekend, let's hope that we can carry it on for the rest of the race.”

There was also a light-hearted jab at long-time rival Max Verstappen, who had a tougher outing at Red Bull’s home race and will start three places behind Hamilton in seventh.

When asked if staying out of trouble could lead to a strong result, Hamilton smiled and said: “I mean, Max isn't up there,” followed by a chuckle. “I won't be bumping into anybody, that's for sure.”