Lewis Hamilton admits he was taken aback by Ferrari's lack of pace during Australian Grand Prix qualifying.
After all the predictions had pointed to the Scuderia leading after pre-season testing, they had no answer in Melbourne as Mercedes locked out the front row.
Instead, the world champion only had the challenge of teammate Valtteri Bottas, which he would do with his final attempt to secure a remarkable eighth pole at Albert Park.
"The second lap was definitely a lot better than the first, which is not always the case," he explained afterwards. "The first lap I made a mistake which is unusual for me. OK, I brushed it off and kept moving."
We just kept working away at our pace and laps through the weekend."
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As for Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel ended the session 0.7s back in third but Hamilton insisted he and Mercedes really were expecting a tight battle with the Italian team.
"They showed us the summary of how testing went, we were behind Ferrari," he stated.
"From then until now, we haven’t changed the car, [but] we’ve understood the car more. We haven’t brought upgrades, but as I said, the last couple of days we felt good at the track.
"Yesterday, Ferrari were with us. We were heavy on fuel, and then when we dropped fuel we were on par in terms of performance," he added.
"Then all of a sudden, they lost some performance this morning, which is not what I was expecting. It was a real shock."
The next task Hamilton has is to convert pole into victory on Sunday, something he has failed to do the past two years in Australia with Vettel winning both times.
"I’m grateful where our car is," he noted. "I know Ferrari will be pushing hard and progressing in the coming days."
