Lewis Hamilton underlined the fact he has beaten Nico Rosberg three times out of three in straight qualifying fights this year after taking pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix.
MGU-H issues at the last two races prevented Hamilton challenging Rosberg for pole position, but a clean session in Spain saw him beat his Mercedes teammate in a straight fight. It is Hamilton's third pole position of the year after he also beat Rosberg to pole in Australia and Bahrain, and he made sure his teammate was aware of the statistic in the post-qualifying press conference.
"It's three out of three for me, so I'm pretty happy," Hamilton said. "Obviously I didn't get to compete in the last two qualifying sessions so very, very happy with it. The car was great, but yesterday was a bit of a difficult day so to be able to start on the right foot today is a real blessing.
"Getting the lap ... obviously Nico has been very strong all weekend so it was crucial. Bit-by-bit, stepping stones, one step at a time I've been trying to bring the pace together. I want to say thank you to my team, all the guys back at the factory for working so hard the last two weeks to really try and rectify the issues we've had."
After struggling throughout Friday practice, Hamilton said his pole position lap on Saturday was so good it made him laugh.
"I had a problem yesterday with something on the car so it was not the easiest of days. So today has been starting from scratch and the car felt great from the get-go once that was rectified.
"We made changes to the balance but very few, just a couple of changes. Nico was very comfortable with the car so it was kind of more in line with the direction he was going, we weren't very far apart anyway. But to get out today and feel the car beneath me once again was a great relief.
"Still Nico was very strong as you could see. So there was areas where I needed to pick up and that was really what I tried to do in Turn 10 but it was a little bit too much. When I came in I was just laughing believe it or not, between those runs because the lap was so good.
"I was just giggling thinking it was such a good lap it would have been pole, but I'm glad I got it on the second one. While it did put a bit more pressure on the second lap I was still able to get it so I'm happy with that."
Hamilton's starts at the first two races of the season saw him lose the lead from pole position, but he is confident he will not have the same problem on Sunday.
"China I had the best start of the whole grid and the last start I think was so-so. So I'm hoping for another good start. I think whatever issues we had have definitely been rectified. Ultimately with the starts I think for all of us in Formula One they're always up and down. But the starts have been great this weekend so I don't see why tomorrow it won't be too."