Lewis Hamilton has set an ambitious target of securing his first podium for Ferrari after beating Charles Leclerc in qualifying in the F1 Spanish GP. The 7x F1 champion got one over on his teammate for just the second time this season and will be starting the race in P5.

Qualifying has not been Hamilton’s strength of late, and more often than not, Leclerc has had the edge over the veteran. During the F1 Spanish GP qualifying, in what was a welcome change for Ferrari itself, both drivers were within a tenth of each other by Q2. Charles Leclerc, however, had a different strategy for Q3 compared to Lewis Hamilton.

Unlike his teammate, who was going to do two runs on fresh soft tires, Charles Leclerc was planning to do only a fast run. With Leclerc executing his lap much earlier than Lewis Hamilton, the 7x F1 champion was able to take advantage of track evolution and beat his teammate.

Looking ahead to the race, Lewis Hamilton was confident of the pace in the car and set himself a target of fighting for a podium on Sunday. Talking to Sky Sports, he said,

“I’m looking forward to it. I got a bit of a long run yesterday. It will be close between everybody. It’s amazing how close everybody is. Half a tenth can put you from sixth to 11th. The long run will be challenging for everybody. Most people have softs and one medium. Charles and a couple others have two mediums.”

He added,

“Which tyres are the best? Which strategy is the best? The key will be getting a good start. My goal is to try and get a podium. I’ve not had one for God knows how long.”

Lewis Hamilton happy with another top 5 in qualifying

The change in fortunes for Lewis Hamilton in qualifying came after the Ferrari driver was not too happy with the feeling of his car on Friday. The driver’s early impression after the practice sessions was that he wasn’t comfortable in the car.

Talking about how the team turned things around and helped him secure a third consecutive top 5 result, Lewis said,

“It was pretty good. Friday started off fun but we had a problem with the floor, so I lost a lot of downforce in P2 and the balance shifted massively. It was a bit confusing because we didn’t really change anything then all of a sudden we had this problem.”

He added,

“We fixed it for today and the car was much more drivable, much more enjoyable and we clearly made an improvement in qualifying to get into Q3 and be in the top five. I’m really happy with that.”

Lewis Hamilton has yet to score a Grand Prix podium with Ferrari until now. The driver would be hoping to make it happen on Sunday as he starts to get on top of the car.