George Russell is prepared for a "fight on our hands" with Lewis Hamilton after the former team-mates locked out the front-row for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix - much to Russell's surprise.
Holding provisional pole after the first Q3 runs, Russell initially fell to second on the final laps as Kimi Antonelli moved up to P1, but the Briton was able to find half a second and improve to 1:14.679 to earn a three-tenth advantage.
However, at the death, Lewis Hamilton split the Mercedes, and fell short by 0.064s of catching his former team-mate, who took the 10th pole of his career, and the 150th for Mercedes-Benz in F1.
Reflecting on ending his mini-drought of results, Russell expressed his surprise at Hamilton being in contention, despite the Ferrari having topped the Q1 segment.
"It's been a great weekend so far. I kind of feel like my old self again, where every lap I'm doing my job, always fighting in those top positions," Russell explained.
"Obviously, for the last few races, for numerous reasons, things haven't quite been on our side, but I came in this weekend with a clean slate.
"I've felt good, and it is just great to be on pole.
"It's going to be an interesting race tomorrow. Lewis did an amazing job getting up there; that was a real surprise.
"We thought a fight was with ourselves and McLaren, and then Lewis has been really quick all this session, so I'm sure there's going to be a fight on our hands.
"Obviously, Kimi has been doing an amazing job, so tomorrow is not going to be easy from every standpoint, but I'm feeling ready."
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