Lewis Hamilton admitted to being "gobsmacked" after taking pole position with a course-record time ahead of Saturday's sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix. (More Motorsport News)
Hamilton's first outing for Ferrari, at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix last week, ended in disappointment as he qualified eighth and finished 10th.
But the seven-time world champion responded in emphatic fashion on Friday, with his lap time of 1.30.849 shattering the Shanghai International Circuit's course record.
The previous fastest lap at the Chinese event, a time of 1.32.238, was set by the legendary Michael바카라 웹사이트Schumacher in 2004.바카라 웹사이트
"I didn't know when we would get to this position and, after last weekend, it was a difficult start to the week," Hamilton told reporters after edging out Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri for P1.
"I came here with aggression and wanting to go into the weekend and get the car into a great place.
"I started out straight away with a better feeling in the car and I can't believe we are at the front. I am just a bit gobsmacked."
After Saturday's shorter sprint race, teams will have the opportunity to modify their cars ahead of qualifying for a race Hamilton has won on a record six occasions.
While he knows there is plenty more work to do throughout the weekend, Hamilton feels the results of Friday's session should offer Ferrari hope they can compete in Sunday's main race.
"Even though it's not the main pole, it gives me real inspiration to go into tomorrow and try to find more performance and see if we can compete again," Hamilton said.바카라 웹사이트
"There's definitely a little more performance to find, for sure."
Hamilton's team-mate Charles Leclerc qualified in fourth, with Mercedes' George Russell fifth and early drivers' championship leader Lando Norris in sixth.
Leclerc said: "I struggled on my side of the garage. From the beginning I felt I was a step back from Lewis and he was just faster.
"I struggled a lot in turns one, two and three, which is the same as last year, more or less.바카라 웹사이트
"Apart from that, everything was quite tight. It's a shame we start P4 but Lewis is on pole and hopefully we can have a strong race."
