Despite only qualifying fourth, seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton insists his Montreal performance rekindled the same levels of excitement as when he first entered F1.

Despite his trials and tribulations, the damp conditions in qualifying - somewhat ironically - put all thoughts of porpoising aside, and for a few brief moments it appeared the Mercedes was set to start from the front row, alongside his nemesis, Max Verstappen.

But then Spaniards, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso dug deep, demoting the Briton to fourth on the grid.

Nonetheless, Hamilton was all smiles at session end, the Briton having revelled in the conditions, just a day after declaring his Mercedes "undriveable" and a "disaster".

"Honestly, I feel amazing, so happy, P4!" he beamed. "P4 has never felt so good to be honest.

"Maybe when I was like in my first year of racing, my first year in 2007, when I got my first P4 in qualifying, it felt great then," he grinned. "I think this kind of feels like that, particularly because it's been a really, really difficult year.

"We did a lot of work on the car overnight," he explained, "we went in two different directions yesterday just to try and get the information. We have slightly different set-ups for the race, but we're in a great position so hopefully I can try and hold position at least."

However, qualifying was qualifying, and the race is almost certain to be dry, which means the W13 will be the handful it has been for much of the season.

"With this car you need everything, and more, to come together," he admitted. "You know what, I think this car works, I like to think that I've got rhythm and at this track, and particularly in this session you need to have rhythm. I feel like this car works on a completely different beat. It doesn't work on a normal beat and that's been difficult to get used to.

"The rain always opens up opportunity and I love this track, while it's been a struggle so far this weekend and there's still a lot of work to do tomorrow, I hope all the team are feeling positive."

Check out our Saturday gallery from Montreal here.