Downbeat Hamilton reacts: 'Not really much more to say...'
F1 News
Entering his second to last weekend driving for Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton was not satisfied with his result following Sprint Qualifying at the Losail International Circuit. The Briton finished in P7, while George Russell will start the Sprint event from the first row of the grid on Saturday.
Hamilton has previously said on many occasions that qualifying is not going well for him. After he finished seventh in SQ3, the British driver only echoed his previous statements. "It was the same as every other qualifying, not that great. I'm just slow. Same every weekend. The car felt relatively decent. No issues. Not really much more to say," he began to F1TV following the session.
The only positive he could find was Russell's result. "Not particularly. The positive is the car is fast and George should be able to shoot for pole tomorrow. Who knows [if it's just me struggling]? I'm definitely not fast."
Hamilton believes Mercedes' long pace was better, but given his starting position he can't take full advantage of that. "The long run didn't feel too bad. But, when you're back when I am, it makes it almost impossible to compete for wins. But that's the Sprint. I will do what I can tomorrow."
Shovlin reflects on Hamilton's performance
The team's trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin pointed out where Hamilton fell behind, the team reported. "Lewis was looking competitive in his final lap of SQ3 but unfortunately lost a little time in the last two corners, prior to this it looked like he was going to also finish in the top four. We have a bit of time between now and Qualifying tomorrow to continue to work on our single lap performance."
Shovlin was rather positive about his team result. "We were optimistic coming into the weekend but didn’t expect to see our performance in the same window as we did in Vegas so George’s P2 today is encouraging for the Team. Pace across the top four teams looks very close so it’s beneficial to be starting the Sprint Race on the front row."
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