LEWIS Hamilton produced his best qualifying performance of the season at lunchtime today in Bahrain. The reigning F1 world champion from Herts was fifth quickest ahead of tomorrow s Bahrain Grand Prix. We have been pushing incredibly hard over the last c

LEWIS Hamilton produced his best qualifying performance of the season at lunchtime today in Bahrain.

The reigning F1 world champion from Herts was fifth quickest ahead of tomorrow's Bahrain Grand Prix.

"We have been pushing incredibly hard over the last couple of months and this is a result of all our hard work," said Lewis.

Encouraged by the pace and consistency of MP4-24, the 24-year-old McLaren racer made more progress with the car ahead of qualifying during the morning's practice session.

He completed three runs and ended the day fourth fastest.

"We are making improvements all the time," he said afterwards.

That was evident in qualifying with the Tewin driver securing a place on the third row.

Toyota completed a front row one-two with Jarno Trulli on pole and Timo Glock second.

Lewis set a Q1 banker on option tyres of 1 minute 33.290 seconds before setting a faster 1m 32.851s, again on options, to finish the first session third fastest.

Into Q2, he ran a used set of options to record a 1m 33.472s - a lap he was dissatisfied with - before pulling out a 1m 32.877s to finish eighth in an incredibly closely fought session.

That ensured the McLaren Mercedes man would battle for a top 10 spot for only the second time third year.

Hamilton clocked a 1m 35.042s banker on primes before recording a 1m 34.196s, on options, to line up fifth - the team's best qualifying position of the season.