San Francisco Frontiers - Hamilton thanks Ferrari for 'mega' repairs after smashing car

The seven-time world champion crashed at the end of third free practice before winding up only 0.002 seconds behind team-mate Charles Leclerc, who was fifth.

"The boys did a mega job to fix my damage," he said.

"The car was feeling amazing in FP3 and I was confident that, if not fighting for pole because Mercedes are too fast, we could probably be third or something.

"I was missing a couple of tenths, and once I got to 'quali' the car wasn't identical, but I did my best."

He suggested Ferrari were losing out to Mercedes – for whom championship leader Kimi Antonelli secured his sixth pole of the season – on pure power and pace.

"They're just so fast," he said.

"It's to be expected at this track. We expected it, but I think we can go forward tomorrow."

Leclerc, who won the British Grand Prix two weeks ago, said: "Silverstone was a bit of a standout weekend, but here it's not -- it's a bit more the way we expected it.

"I'm a bit disappointed. I think it's just raw power. We are pretty strong on grip and they're strong on the power."

George Russell qualified fourth in the second Mercedes, half a second off the pace set by Antonelli, and said the team no longer believed his deficit to the Italian's pace was due to his driving.

"Coming out of Silverstone, we thought it was in the driving style or technique," he explained. "But we finally concluded it is not. We changed everything.

"It's four-tenths in the straights in Q3," he said. "It is frustrating. Every single lap I've come in this weekend seeing anywhere from two tenths to four tenths.

"And, in FP2 yesterday it was seven tenths. The team are working so hard to understand what it is."

He added: "Anything can happen. The truth is the battle against my team-mate, who is such an incredible driver, who is doing such a great job at the moment, in the best of times is a tall order, but I feel confident that head-to-head I can achieve it."

A.Evans--SFF