“For us to be much closer and be on the second row, and for Charles who is on the front row, I think that’s really fantastic.”
Hamilton, who was just 0.09 seconds slower than Leclerc, said he believed he could have qualified second had he optimised his final lap.
The seven-time champion said: “My last lap wasn’t perfect, I think that could have been, if I had finished that, would have been second.
“So there’s lots of positives to take out from that session. Also I think it has been the best day, operationally, particularly through qualifying, how the team operated, just timings, the information we are getting in terms of traffic and positionings on track, it was the best, it was proper world class. That is what we are working towards.”
Ferrari’s improved performance comes in the wake of criticism in the Italian media in recent weeks – two influential newspapers wrote articles questioning Frederic Vasseur’s position as team principal.
Hamilton appeared to be referencing this when he said: “Ultimately, we continue to work together, protect each other, block out all the noise and just keep our heads down.
“It’s an incredible team. We’re working, and I’m working with Fred, we’re working to put all the pieces of the puzzle in the right place, step by step.
“It can’t be done in one go. Just got to keep working at it. I’m really happy with the progress we are making.”
Leclerc said: “Very happy to be second. It’s been a very difficult season for us qualifying-wise.
“We’ve always been fighting for P5, P6 in best cases, apart from Monaco. That was a one-off. So, it’s good to be starting a little bit further up, and to be straight away with the fast guys, straight from the start.”
Leclerc said the first signs from the new floor were positive but that it would take time to be sure of its influence.
“It definitely helped us,” he said. “I felt like there were some steps forward. How much, we need to see it in different characteristics of tracks.
“It’s not only on this track that we’ve got to judge that, but over multiple tracks.
“However, the numbers that we expected, we had them, which is a good start. That means that we are working in the right direction.”
