Lando Norris may have secured pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, but even he wasn't as delighted with his own result as his two closest challengers were.
Max Verstappen was miserable after Friday practice and thought he might even struggle to make it to the top 10. But his final flying lap of Q3 was good enough for the front row alongside his championship challenger, while Lewis Hamilton was third quickest having had the same fear.
And the Mercedes driver in particular was relieved as he reflected on what he felt was his first strong qualifying performance for many months. Hamilton said: "Qualifying has been a disaster for me all year long and I've just been working and working and working, trying to get myself back up there.
"All of a sudden, the car came alive in qualifying for the first time in a long time. It's a little bit of a shame, because we were getting into rhythm and it was the same for all of us. Getting that lap at the end was a little bit tricky. I think there was maybe a tiny bit more left in the car, but I'm really grateful for it.
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"We've been moving up and down on balance, we've changed everything this weekend on each day, and the mechanics have just been faultless so I want to say a big thank you to them. I hope that we're in a good position to fight for the front tomorrow."
And Verstappen was similarly grateful for a car that felt much better after he had been stranded a full second off Norris' pace on Friday. The Red Bull racer said: "I think the whole of qualifying actually went quite well.
"We managed to improve the car, run after run, already in FP3 and I'm happy to be on the front row, if you look at where we came from yesterday. Q3 was tough - your lap gets cancelled with the double yellow. Then, everyone only has one run to do the lap, so you don't want to overdo it. You want to stay within the limit.
"I'll take second, I'm happy with that. Tyres can give you a lot of lap time or lose you a lot of lap time. I think today, for us in qualifying, it worked out quite well so I was happy with that. And here we are in second."
Both of them were reluctant to make grand predictions about their chances in the race but are hopeful they will have the pace to compete. Verstappen added: "Tomorrow, of course, a bit difficult to say. In Singapore a lot of things can happen, but at least we have a shot at it."
And Hamilton said: "It was a lot better today. It was the first time we had any front end and we've seen that the McLaren's have been so quick each weekend, so I don't know. I think with management, I'm hoping we can try and keep up with these guys. Maybe not the McLarens, but we'll be giving everything."
