Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are confident they can claim victory from the clutches of Lando Norris ahead of Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.
The pair, who have won the previous eight Spanish Grands Prix between them (three for Verstappen and five for Hamilton), start second and third on the grid in Barcelona.
The seven-time world champion out-qualified team-mate George Russell for only the second time this season as the Mercedes drivers took third and fourth, underlining their re-emergence as contenders close to the front after a series of car developments.
“I’m really happy, thank you everyone I’m super happy to be here in the top three," Hamilton said. "It’s been a difficult year and a huge amount of work from everyone back at the factory, and finally we are starting to see those incremental steps moving closer to the guys ahead.
“I didn’t expect us to be fighting for pole necessarily, but there were bits there where I thought maybe we will be close and so to be there I’m just grateful.”
On the team making steps forward, he added: “We’ve made huge steps forward and it’s really just down to every single individual back at the factory who is pushing and designing and making the new parts that we get to bring as early as possible to these races.
"Slowly the car is crafting into a racing machine that we can hopefully fight the guys at the front.
“George did a great job today so hopefully tomorrow we can apply pressure to the two cars ahead.”
Red Bull's Verstappen will start on the front row, but in second place after being pipped by Norris to claim his second career pole.
The Dutchman appeared out of reach when he improved his own time, which was already fastest, by more than 0.2 seconds on his final run, only for Norris to cross the line moments later to beat Verstappen by 0.02 seconds.
However, Verstappen is confident of claiming a seventh victory of the season to grow his lead over Leclerc at the top of the driver's championship.
"I think in qualifying it was all coming together a bit nicer," Verstappen said. "We have been trying to find the balance because the practice sessions have been difficult.
"So I was quite happy in qualifying - I even got a nice little tow from Checo to Turn One to really extract everything we could. But unfortunately, it was just not enough. That is how it goes sometimes and overall we can still be very happy with this performance in qualifying and definitely all to play for tomorrow.
"Even throughout qualifying, the wind started to pick up a little bit, maybe that made it a bit more difficult for us. Overall, a good performance again in qualifying.
"They are never easy qualis because you're always in a battle with yourself. of course now, there's more teams. And when it's that close for pole position, it's always great."
Barcelona boss Flick to rely on experience amid injury crisis
Barcelona boss Hansi Flick will rely on his experienced players as the Blaugrana navigate an injury crisis early on in his first campaign at the helm.
A perfect seven wins from as many matches in LaLiga this season means Barca could match the best start in their league history on Saturday, when they visit Osasuna.
Only once have Barca won their first eight matches to start a league campaign, doing so in 2013-14 under Gerardo Martino but ultimately finishing second to Atletico Madrid that season.
Flick's impressive start at Camp Nou has come despite injuries biting at his squad, with goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen the latest casualty as he underwent knee surgery this week.
He has joined Dani Olmo, Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, Ronald Araujo, Fermin Lopez and Andreas Christensen in the treatment room, while Inigo Martinez is doubtful after suffering an injury against Getafe on Wednesday.
De Jong and Gavi are closing in on returns, but Flick is confident in his team's ability to cope in their absence.
"This is about quality of the players. They are very well prepared and train with so much passion and mentality," Flick said. "Evidently, as we did before, there will be some rotations.
"But also it's important the experienced players are with us, like Raphinha and [Robert] Lewandowski. Inigo received a blow, so we will see how that is.
"From what I see in training, [De Jong] is in good shape, also Gavi picking up the pace.
"Frenkie is very close to returning. Tomorrow he will have a rest because he needs it, he trained a lot."
The return of De Jong, who last played in April, could be a major boost for Barcelona as they brace for a tough October, when they host Bayern Munich in the Champions League three days before visiting Real Madrid in LaLiga.
"De Jong is an experienced player and he can help us greatly, even if he plays 20 minutes, but we will see what happens next week," Flick said.
Flick was also asked what it would mean to equal Barca's best start to a season, but the German is focused purely on the task of overcoming Osasuna.
"It's always great to win though we aren't focusing on the record," he said.
"From 11 points, Osasuna have won 10 points at home, where the crowd really gets behind them and I like that atmosphere.
Meanwhile, Barca have been banned from selling tickets for their next Champions League away game, at Red Star Belgrade on November 6, after their supporters were found guilty of racist behaviour during their match against Monaco.
Ricciardo to leave RB with Lawson named as replacement
Daniel Ricciardo will leave RB with Liam Lawson replacing him for the remainder of the Formula One season.
Speculation surrounding Ricciardo's future has been confirmed as the Australian's second F1 stint was brought to an end after he lost his seat at RB.
Ricciardo is 14th in the drivers' championship standings, while he recorded the fastest lap during last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix - the 258th and final race of his F1 career.
The 35-year-old has chalked up eight wins and 32 podiums along the way, notably finishing third in the drivers' championship in 2014 and 2016.
Lawson, who deputised for the injured Ricciardo in five races last season, will step up from his reserve role to partner Yuki Tsunoda for the final six races of the 2024 campaign, starting at next month's United States Grand Prix in Austin.
The 22-year-old recorded an impressive ninth-place finish in Singapore during his short stint, and RB boss Laurent Mekies feels it will be "a natural transition" for him.
"Everyone would like to thank Daniel for his hard work across the last two seasons with us," Mekies said.
"He has brought a lot of experience and talent to the team with a fantastic attitude, which has helped everyone to develop and foster a tight team spirit.
"Daniel has been a true gentleman both on and off the track, and never without that smile. He will be missed, but will always hold a special place within the Red Bull family.
"I'd also like to take this opportunity to welcome Liam. He already knows the team well. He drove for us last season, and coped well under difficult circumstances, so it'll be a natural transition.
"It's great to see young talent from within the Red Bull family make the next step. We're looking forward to getting our heads down and focusing on the rest of the season together."
'Perfect' Barca still have room for improvement, says Flick
Despite Barcelona maintaining their perfect start to the LaLiga season with a 1-0 win over Getafe on Wednesday, head coach Hansi Flick insisted they can improve.
Robert Lewandowski's 19th-minute strike was enough to secure the win for the Blaugrana, but the hosts should have won by a more comfortable scoreline.
At the end of the contest, Barca accumulated an expected goals (xG) total of 1.92 from their 15 shots, but only four of those were on target.
But Flick, who became the third Barca coach to win his first seven LaLiga games after Gerardo Martino in 2013 and Ernesto Valverde in 2017, insisted his side were still very much a work in progress.
"To get seven wins is perfect, but we have to do some things better," Flick said.
"Today we had a very good mentality. For me it's a good starting point to improve.
"I've been told that it's always like that against Getafe, they are very good in defence, but I'm very proud of my players and how they fought for 95 minutes."
The result saw Barca extend their lead to rivals Real Madrid at the summit of the standings to four points ahead of facing Osasuna this weekend.
It was also a straightforward game for the hosts' stand-in goalkeeper Inaki Pena, who kept a clean sheet and was forced to make just one save during the contest.
Pena replaced Marc-Andre ter Stegen between the sticks after the German international came off injured during Barca's 5-1 win over Villarreal last week.
The extent of Ter Stegen's injury was confirmed shortly after, with the 32-year-old undergoing knee surgery on Monday and he is now expected to miss the rest of the season.
Reports suggest that Barca are considering welcoming Wojciech Szczesny as an emergency back-up, despite the Pole calling time on his career earlier this year.
However, Flick refused to discuss those rumours linking Szczesny to a shock move to the Camp Nou.
"I only speak of the players we have in the team. Inaki Pena is our number one goalkeeper and I'm happy. This is what it's worth," Flick said.
"We have Inaki Pena who is 25-years-old but the rest of the goalkeepers are very young, so if something happens we have to have experience."
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