Lewis Hamilton said "the fight is on" after achieving his best qualifying result since joining Ferrari at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

Hamilton qualified second to Mercedes driver George Russell by just 0.064 seconds and said the result proved that "what we're doing is working, we're improving as a team".

Ferrari brought a significant aerodynamic upgrade to the Spanish race and Hamilton fought back from a difficult run through practice to take his best qualifying result since the 2024 British Grand Prix.

The 41-year-old joined Ferrari in 2025 and had a difficult first season, struggling to get on terms with team-mate Charles Leclerc, although he did take a pole and win in the sprint race in China last year.

But he has looked much more back to form this year. His previous best grand prix qualifying result for Ferrari was third in Monaco last weekend.

At Silverstone two years ago, Russell led Hamilton to a Mercedes one-two in qualifying and the seven-time champion went on to take what was his first victory for nearly three years.

Asked about his prospects of a repeat, and a first grand prix win for Ferrari, Hamilton said: "It's the closest I've been to the front in quali, right? So, I'll give it a go.

"These guys just seem to have extra in the pocket. Every time we bring an upgrade, they're still ahead, so we've got some work ahead of us.

"It's great for us, this is the closest we've been pace-wise, I think, in quali. And I'm so grateful to the guys back in the team.

"I've seen how focused and how hard everyone's working, and everyone's just quiet and goes about their business and is just so passionate.

"But I really want them to know how thankful I am, because it felt great out there to put a lap together and see that we're that close, this early."

Hamilton's result was a surprise as he had been off the pace throughout the second and third practice sessions after handing his car to junior driver Dino Beganovic for the first session.

He took the unusual step of leaving the paddock between final practice and qualifying to try to get himself in the right head space for the session.

"I was thinking all weekend, 'Why am I half a second off?' Hamilton said. "And I just was down everywhere. Struggled through (Turn) Three, struggled through Turn Nine and having that confidence in that high-speed.

"But the engineers did a great job with the small adjustments on the set-up.

"For the first time ever, I left the track between P3 and qualifying. I said, 'I've got to get out of here.' And I went back to my motorhome and I was just on the engineer call, just on my phone, but I kind of went where I had a bit of a reset. Came back and I was able to somehow get back on it. So yeah, whatever it did, it worked."

Prospects for the race are uncertain because tyre degradation is even higher than expected on a track which is always tough for tyres.

"We came into the weekend with an expectation of what the tyres are going to be, and for us, we had twice the amount of deg," Hamilton said.

"It will be interesting to see if that's improved going into tomorrow, but yes, it's going to be at least a two (pit-stop race).

"They're still so quick, the Mercedes, so still have work to do to fully close the gap or at least get ahead, but I'm really hoping that tomorrow we can. It would be nice for us to, for once, be able to hold on to them, but we'll see."

Leclerc crashed on his first run in qualifying, hitting the barriers after losing control on the exit of Turn Four, and said he was "ashamed of not putting everything together on what was a very positive weekend so far".

Hamilton said: "Charles has been quick all weekend. I was braking very late into Turn Four, which had been visible, and I think Charles probably tried to carry a lot of speed into that corner and, unfortunately, it didn't work out for him."

At Mercedes, Russell's pole marked a return to form for the Briton after a difficult run of races through Miami, Canada and Monaco.

Russell's 68-point deficit to team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the championship owes a significant amount to bad luck, including an engine failure in Canada when he was leading, and a penalty for failing to serve a pit-lane speeding penalty which he should never have received in Monaco, which dropped him from third to 12th.

But Russell admitted in Monaco that he had had also been struggling for pace compared with Antonelli and a change in approach for Spain - which he described as "a big reset" - has paid dividends.

"Miami was just the first weekend where everything felt pretty challenging, and that's where I can accept, and with my direct group of engineers we can accept, we probably made some wrong decisions in these last three races," he said.

"More than anything, more than this pole position, I'm just glad to feel myself again, feel at one with the car again, as I have done for the last few years.

"Just really happy to be back in my groove over the course of the whole weekend.

"It's been a difficult few races for me. Obviously bad luck. There have been some poor performances in there, but went back to an approach that I knew works for me this weekend.

"And more important than the pole position for me was just in sort of every lap of the whole weekend I was in the top two positions and I felt confident, I felt good. Just felt like my old self again.

"Lewis did a really amazing job and also could have got the pole position as well, but regardless, that was the most important thing for me this weekend."