Hamilton not happy with qualifying at Monza: ‘It was terrible’

Lewis Hamilton was not satisfied with his result in qualifying at Monza. While the Briton was the first person to compete in his 300th Q3 in Formula 1, he finished in eight place, while teammate George Russell will line up on the second row of the grid on Sunday.

"Sh*t," Hamilton summed up his qualifying quickly to Viaplay. "It was terrible. It was a really bad session. But you know, sometimes it happens, sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't."

The seven-time world champion added: "I was struggling from absolutely every lap. There wasn't one lap that felt good for me. Just struggled to get out of Q1. Nearly didn't make it and then struggled to get into Q3. Balance issues, struggling with the car. It's not a strong circuit for me in general."

Russell underlines the difference in tyre compounds

George Russell said that the format used in qualifying played a big part in determining the outcome. "We reverted on half of the things for qualifying. So we were just playing with it. And it's all about getting the tyre in the right window. It's, as I just said before, in Q1 I was P13. Then in Q3, same car, same setting, same driver, same everything. P4. Different compound. And you can improve your car one tenth or make it one tenth slower if you get it wrong. But with the tyre, you can find half a second if you nail it. You can lose one second if you're in the wrong window," the Briton also told Viaplay.

Hamilton also praised his teammate in his interview, after he had a rather challenging day: "George did a great job today."