Lewis Hamilton pleased with "fantastic" Ferrari…

Lewis Hamilton hailed the work rate and togetherness of Ferrari as he achieved his best qualifying result with the Formula 1 squad – although he refused to target a podium as he prepares to start fourth at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Ferrari brought a new floor to Spielberg and, despite teething snags during practice, it aided performance in qualifying, with Hamilton on the second row and team-mate Charles Leclerc starting alongside polesitter Lando Norris.

Hamilton, whose best performance since switching to Ferrari from Mercedes came with victory in the sprint race at Shanghai, has achieved his best grand prix qualifying display as the Scuderia look to get back on track following a number of disappointing outings.

He felt an issue on his last run robbed him of beating Leclerc to second, but was still much happier to be closer to his team-mate.

“It's a fantastic result,” said Hamilton. “I think the team worked really hard back in the factory to bring us a new floor this weekend. Considering yesterday, we were a lot further off. I think it was six to nine tenths off.

“For us to be much closer and to be on the second row, I think that's really fantastic, and for Charles, obviously, he's on the front row. I think, ultimately, my last lap wasn't perfect. I think I could have been, I think if I'd finished it would have been second.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari (Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images)

“I've been in this business for such a long time. You win some, you lose some. I'm grateful that we're on the second row at least. And usually our race is better, our car is better in the race generally than it is usually qualifying. So we've improved in qualifying as much as we can. Let's hope that we can carry that on into the race.

“The direction we went, I think, has been really positive. And I think edging closer in terms of performance to Charles, who's really, really used to the car, he hardly ever changes it. So I think that's really positive.”

While overall performance has hampered Hamilton’s ability to truly challenge at the top of the field, he has also had a number of high-profile team radio barbs with race engineer Riccardo Adami – including challenging the team’s decision to keep him behind Leclerc during the Miami Grand Prix.

But, with speculation in the Italian press that team principal Fred Vasseur could pay the price for a drop off in results from last season, Hamilton praised the team’s effort heading into the race in Austria.

“There's lots of positives to take out from that session. Also, I think it was the best day operationally, and I would say particularly through qualifying, how the team operated, just timings, the information we're getting in terms of traffic and positioning on track, I think was really the best,” he added.

“It was proper world-class, so that's what we've been working towards. I think, ultimately, we continue to pull together and kind of block out and protect each other and block out all the noise and just keep our heads down.

Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal and General Manager, Scuderia Ferrari (Photo by: Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“It is an incredible team, and we're just working, and I'm working with Fred, we're working to put all the pieces of the puzzle in the right place. But step by step, it can't be done in one go. It's like you've just got to keep working on it, but I'm really, really happy with the progress we are making.”

Progress on Sunday would be for Hamilton to celebrate a first grand prix podium with Ferrari, but he refused to jinx his chances by discussing it after qualifying – only saying he hopes he does not have to wait as long as he did for his last win, which came at Silverstone last season, 945 days since he took the chequered flag at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

“Every race I've been saying I can't wait to get that first podium, so I'm not going to say that today. I'm just going to stay quiet and try and do a better job tomorrow,” he said.

“It feels like that win, that 900-odd days thing, it feels like that sort of thing. But hopefully it won't take 900 days.

“The last few races I've said, ‘yeah, I can't wait to get that podium’. So I'm not going to say it.”