Lewis Hamilton remains “optimistic” that he can salvage a positive result at the Dutch Grand Prix despite only qualifying fifth on Saturday.

While Lando Norris took pole position for McLaren ahead of the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, Ferrari were trailing their rivals on one-lap pace and Hamilton could only put his car fifth on the grid, though he did pip his teammate Charles Leclerc.

Despite starting on the third row, Hamilton was upbeat in his post-session interview and pointed to Leclerc’s second-place finish in the sprint race earlier on Saturday – when he overtook Norris late on – as a means for motivation and hope heading into Sunday.

“It was a much different session and car,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. “When we started FP1 the car felt great, there were always areas to try and change, subtle changes, and it flipped the car and was horrible in sprint qualifying and the [sprint] race.

“I had no confidence in the balance, learning a new balance again. All the Mercedes up ahead… we know we have a deficit on power. I think tomorrow our race pace is better; the car is better for the race.

“Of course, I feel optimistic. Fifth is not the greatest but it could be far worse. Grateful to be there. Our [sprint] race pace was pretty good, Charles was good this morning.

“I feel optimistic; I think the car is in a better place, the right strategy with the right execution… hopefully we can challenge the guys ahead.”

Hamilton started the weekend 50 points behind championship leader Antonelli but that deficit is now 53 points after the 41-year-old could only finish seventh in the sprint, three spots behind Antonelli.

Russell now only trails Hamilton by three points after he won the 24-lap sprint race earlier on Saturday.

Norris, meanwhile, admitted he was a “little surprised” to be on pole. The reigning world champion is in the midst of a strong run of form after claiming his first win of the season last time out in Hungary.

“It was a decent lap, I was pushing!” he said. Every hundredth can make a big difference. A good turnaround; today we felt very strong. Credit to the team. We made some small changes before qualifying.

“I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow – the fans make a lot of noise, a lot of energy, hopefully we can put a good show for them tomorrow.”