Lewis Hamilton reflected on a "crazy Thursday" that saw him finish fastest in practice for Saturday’s Formula One curtain raiser in Bahrain.
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The seven-time world champion has not won a race for more than two years, but he led a surprise Mercedes one-two under the lights of the Sakhir Circuit on Thursday night.
Hamilton finished two tenths clear of teammate George Russell, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso third.
On yet another explosive off-track day for Red Bull, Max Verstappen bemoaned the handling of his machine as the triple world champion finished down in sixth.
There was no sign of Mercedes challenging at the front during last week's testing in Bahrain, but they dominated Thursday's second session, much to Hamilton's surprise.
“This has been a crazy Thursday,” said Hamilton, 39. “I don’t understand it, and it is a shock to see us where we are, but we will take it for now.
“We cannot get ahead of ourselves. We need to keep our head down and keep working on the setup.
“But I am much happier with the car. I have a better feel of it approaching the corners, and there are other areas that have been fixed and improved.
“It feels like a race car and the last two cars didn’t feel like that. It is a really good platform to work from. We have to keep our heads down and keep on chasing.”
Hamilton is entering his final year at Mercedes after his shock announcement last month that he will leave the team at the end of the season to switch to Ferrari.
Mercedes have carried Hamilton to six of his record-equalling seven titles. But last year marked a second straight season without a victory for the British driver – a losing streak which now stands at 45 races – and Mercedes’ first winless campaign in a dozen years.
However, Hamilton, in his radically revised car – after the design concept which failed so spectacularly for the past two seasons was abandoned – will take faith from an encouraging day.
But Hamilton expects Verstappen and Red Bull will still be the ones to beat.
“I think we are going to be in the mix,” added Hamilton. “We are there or thereabouts with Ferrari and maybe Aston Martin and McLaren.
“It is going to be close, but if Max is out in front – he will drive off as he has done for the past couple of years.”
Verstappen had been regarded as the heavy favourite heading into Saturday’s curtain-raiser in the Gulf kingdom.
But he struggled in the first running and then failed to match the speed of the Mercedes cars later in the day.
Verstappen was heard over the radio describing his car as "miles off.”
However, the 26-year-old Dutchman remained confident he would be in a strong position for the 57-lap Grand Prix.
“It is very close and maybe some people around us have turned up the engine in terms of top speed,” he said.
“I’m not too worried about the gap to first, for example. It is going to be close in qualifying. I was happier about the long run for the race.”
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