Hamilton plays down tyre choice frustration

Although Hamilton initially regretted not going with the softer 'option' tyre for his final attempt on taking pole position, subsequent examination of the data with his engineers has convinced him he did actually make the correct choice.

"Coming into Q3 I had to make a decision and the team rely on me to make that decision," said Hamilton when asked about his feelings on the tyre choice.

"At the end of the day, I'm the one who's out there. It is only me who really knows what's going on, and I think we actually did make the right decision - that was the best tyre for us.

"At the time I thought this wasn't the tyre I should have used but I've just been looking at the data and it was the right decision. In Q2, it was clear the option tyre wasn't good for me. And my engineer just told me my decision was right."

Hamilton said his initial frustration at missing out on pole position was because he is desperate to get back to winning ways, having seen Ferrari win the last three races.

"For sure, we're third and it's better than we've had for the last few races, so it's not all doom and gloom," he said. "And we're in a good position to be able to attack on the first lap, and we're in a good position to challenge for the win, but it's going to be tough.

"I want to win just as much as anyone else and sometimes you feel something's not 100 per cent and it needs to be improved."

However, on the back of a hard chase of Ferrari in the Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton is optimistic that McLaren remain a serious threat to their rivals.

"For me I already felt coming into this weekend that we would be a bit closer than them. But they are quick here, as they have been for the last two or three years.

"So we definitely come here knowing in qualifying we are close, and (teammate) Heikki (Kovalainen) is even closer. I think we're a lot closer, especially from Barcelona.

"But even at the end of the Barcelona race, it looked like we were a bit closer anyway. We just need to be patient. We've obviously got a lot more improvements coming over the next few months and the team are pushing very hard."