Indeed the four-time champion, who leads Mercedes driver Hamilton in the championship race by 13 points, was marginally quicker than the Briton throughout his final timed run - only to lock a brake in the closing stages and finish second to his rival.
"It's a miracle that they got me out".
"Second Q3 run was really good up to that final chicane".
After finishing behind Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain and Sochi, Hamilton will be desperate to get his world championship bid back on track on Sunday.
The fastest 15 drivers who moved on to Q2 were: Hamilton, Raikkonen, Vettel, Bottas, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Grosjean, Ocon, Sainz, Magnussen, Perez, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Massa and Wehrlein.
"In the race it's just looking after those tyres, it's a very long, hard race here, both physically, mentally and for the auto and the tyres".
That the German was even in Q3 was a feat in itself.
Bad start for Sebastian Vettel, whose Ferrari made it out on track after the engine change, but could only crawl around the track, reporting a new issue.
Although most teams were expected to bring significant upgrade packages to Barcelona, Mercedes still caused a surprise by revealing several radical differences to the front of the W08.
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Nobody knows if Patrick Maroon can duplicate his career year, or what Milan Lucic will look like with another year on him. Nashville is a talented team, and there really shouldn't be that many people surprised that they've made it this far.
Mercedes' upgrade has ensured their place at the top of the timesheets heading into qualifying, with Ferrari struggling to match the pace they showed in Russian Federation.
Despite an engine change just prior to the start of qualifying, Vettel missed out on pole due to a lock-up on turn two at the Circuit de Catalunya and was left ruing a driving error which extended his record of never starting the race at the head of the field. "It was tricky for us", Hamilton said. I wasn't too happy, but I can feel the vehicle is quick so that is good.
The question now is whether Ferrari retain their advantage over the W08 in race set-up.
"And today, as I say, was really a pleasure, especially the first two sectors". My suspicion is that the Mercedes is still able to get a time out of the tyres but might be overworking them. "The vehicle was slippery but I think that was because of the conditions".
The double world champion then posted a picture from a nearby tennis court with his trainer. Eliminated alongside him in Q1 were Vandoorne, Sauber's Marcus Ericsson, Renault's Jolyon Palmer and Williams driver Lance Stroll.
"P7 is a gift. And then this little mistake in the last corner, and pole is history".
Honda confirmed they will change Alonso's power unit and are hopeful the Spaniard will return for second practice later on Friday.
Vettel added: "Today was quite a shocker, if you look at the long runs". Lewis has won 1 out of 4 and placed second in two of the races.
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