Barcelona-Catalonia Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton says he is ‘ready for victory’ as he and George Russell make a successful restart.

Hamilton’s result was surprising as he was out of pace throughout the second and third practice sessions after handing over the car to junior driver Dino Beganovic for the first session.

He took the unusual step of leaving the paddock between final practice and qualifying in an attempt to find the right head position for the session.

“I spent the whole weekend thinking, ‘Why am I half a second off?’ Hamilton said. “And I was everywhere. He wrestled (turn) three, he wrestled in round nine and that confidence at high speed.

But the engineers have done a great job with minor tweaks to the setup.

“The first time I left the track between P3 and qualifying, I said, ‘I’ve got to get out of here.’

The prospects for the race are uncertain as tire degradation is always higher than expected on a track that is difficult to tyre.

“We went into the weekend waiting to see what the tires would be, and for us it was double the amount of Deg,” said Hamilton.

“It will be interesting to see this improved going into tomorrow, but yes, it will be at least two (pit stop races).

“They’re still very fast, Mercedes, so we still have work to do to close the gap completely or at least go ahead, but I really hope we can tomorrow. It would be nice if we could hold them for once, but we’ll see.”

Leclerc said he was “embarrassed that he didn’t put it all together in what has been a good weekend so far” after crashing into the barriers after losing control at turn four in qualifying for the first time in qualifying.

Hamilton said: “Charles was quick all weekend. I was driving very late into Turn Four, which was visible, and I think Charles probably tried to carry too much speed into that corner and unfortunately it didn’t work for him.”