Lewis Hamilton has outlined the result he is hoping for from the Canadian Grand Prix after being left thrilled with his P4 qualifying result.
After a difficult start to the season, the Mercedes driver secured his best grid slot of the year in Montreal, having looked strong throughout the final Q3 session.
Hamilton – who has achieved more pole positions than any other driver in F1 history – admits that he has never been so pleased with fourth place before.
"Honestly, I feel amazing," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
"[I'm] so happy! P4 has never felt so good, if I'm being honest. Maybe when I was in my first year of racing, the first year here in 2007, when I got my first P4 in qualifying.
"It felt great then, and I think this kind of feels like that, particularly because it's been a really, really difficult year, so to go through what we're faced with today... it's difficult for everyone out there.
"[I'm] really so happy to be able to have us there and put us in a position, because everyone's working so hard, and we're constantly facing these challenges with this car."
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Hamilton explains overnight work on car
With the W13 continuing to experience issues such as bouncing, Hamilton says that there was a lot of hard work going on during the night before qualifying.
As such, the seven-time World Champion is hopeful that he can at least maintain position in Sunday's race.
"We did a lot of work overnight [on the car]," Hamilton explained.
"We went in two different directions yesterday, just to try and get the information. George [Russell's] way just happened to be a lot better, so the car didn't feel that great through the session.
"I think tomorrow [we] should be in a much better position, and we have slightly different set-ups still for the race, but we're in a great position.
"So hopefully I can try and hold position at least."
Where did the step in performance come from?
When asked where specifically the step forward came from, Hamilton suggested that it was a combination of factors.
"With this car, you need everything and more to come together," he said.
"I know [how] I feel like this car works. I like to think that I have rhythm, and this track and particularly in a session like that you need to have rhythm.
"I feel like this car works on a completely different beat. It doesn't work on the normal beat, so that's been difficult to get used to, and I think it's just really all the hard work from everyone.
"I think the rain makes it much different. If it was dry, I don't know whether we'd be in that position, but the rain always opens up opportunity, and I love this track.
"It's been a struggle so far this weekend, so there's still a lot of work to do tomorrow, but I hope all the team are feeling positive. Please continue to push. We need you, I need you, we are working as hard as we can, and I believe in them so much.
"I hope at some stage we can stop this bouncing."
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