Lewis Hamilton admitted he “wasn’t quick enough” in qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The defending champion will start the race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from second on the grid for the third consecutive race.
Hamilton was quickest in Free Practice 3 earlier on Saturday but the British driver was unable to replicate that in qualifying.
“I wasn’t quick enough today and wasn’t able to extract the full potential from the car.
“I have been struggling with the car all weekend, so I will have to look into the details, figure out how I can improve my pace and keep working.”
The other second Mercedes-AMG Motorsport of Valtteri Bottas secured pole position and with Hamilton second, it made it three front row lock outs in a row for the silver arrows and Hamilton admitted Bottas deserved his pole position.
“Valtteri had a good qualifying session and did a great job, so he deserved pole.”
Barcelona is known for being tough to overtake at and Hamilton is aware of that but believes the Mercedes does have good race pace.
“Our long-run pace looked good, so hopefully we should be strong tomorrow as well.
“My starts have been decent so far this year, so hopefully that will continue on Sunday as it’s not that easy to overtake on this track.”
