Miami GP: Lewis Hamilton labels P6 as 'best qualifying' for three races

Lewis Hamilton has called his P6 in qualifying the best Saturday he has had in three races ahead of the Miami Grand Prix today.

The Briton has certainly had it pretty tough so far this season with his Mercedes W13 car just not at the level of performance he is used to.

Indeed, the porpoising issues that he has had in the car have been stark and that has hampered car performance, with results up to this point prompting him to suggest that the title race is already one that he cannot win this season.

All he can hope for, then, is to see improvements to the car and get better results on the board for the upcoming races and, certainly, things appear to have picked up at least a little bit, with him sticking the car on the third row alongside former team-mate Valtteri Bottas ahead of the Miami Grand Prix later today.

And, that said, Hamilton looked a fair deal more positive after qualifying in Miami than he did at any point last time out in Imola.

“That’s the best qualifying session that I have had in the last three races,” he said post-session.

“So I’ll take that and keep pushing and keep working hard.

“We’ve got to keep on chipping away. So much amazing work has gone on in the background.

“I don’t think we are necessarily moving forward at the rate we would like to, but we have just got to keep our heads down and keep working and eventually we will get there.”

Mercedes are hardly going to be popping the champagne corks over a 6th place in qualifying but it, in Hamilton’s case, is at least a step in the right direction ahead of the race.

George Russell will start the Grand Prix in 12th, meanwhile, after losing some ground overnight having topped the timesheets in FP2 on Friday, and that rather sums up the position Mercedes