“The car felt really good in P1 and then qualifying, it didn’t feel terrible, it’s just we’re seven tenths off. That’s just the pace of our car,” Hamilton told reporters. “I think the sprint race is going to be tough. We’re in 12th so don’t expect a huge amount from there to be honest. It’s not an easy circuit to overtake on or to follow."

The seven-time world champion said his goal was to somehow make his way into the top-eight to secure at least a point, but doesn't envisage things getting better from here. Indeed, he implied recent developments on the car hadn't narrowed the gap in pace between the Silver Arrows and the front-runners.

“No more experiments,” he explained. “We’ve just been trying to make the car work. I feel like we extracted everything from the car, and that’s just our pace. We just have to accept that for the moment, we’re seven tenths off.”

To compound matters, Verstappen was also unhappy over his own display, despite searing to the front of the grid. And his reaction when he learnt his position was one of genuine surprise.

Informed by race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase he was on pole, a shocked Verstappen replied: "LOL. What happened to the others? This was terrible. I mean I will take it!"

It's a telling indictment to Hamilton and his remaining rivals that the Dutchman can be 'terrible' and still finish top of the pile. And he looks well set to extend his current 25-point lead over team-mate Sergio Perez, who finished third in sprint qualifying.

Behind the front three, Daniel Ricciardo surprisingly finished fourth. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fifth, McLaren's Oscar Piastri sixth, with the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso seventh and eighth.

Also ahead of Russell and Hamilton were Lando Norris, after a poor first sector on his final lap cost him dear, and Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg. The sprint race wull take place on Saturday ahead of qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix.