Hamilton sets bar awkwardly low for qualifying: 'See if I can reach Q3'

14:23, 19 Apr

Updated: 14:49, 19 Apr

byNorberto Mujica

Lewis Hamilton's coming to terms with Ferrari's 2025 F1 car has been an ongoing process with a great deal of inconsistencies along the way. In the midst of all that, he now sets a lowly benchmar ahead of qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Arriving in Jeddah, Hamilton revealed what his approach to the weekend would be. “My focus this weekend is driving style, really getting on top of the circuit and getting into a rhythm,” he said to Formula 1.

Hamilton defends his F1 driving style and points to SF-25's sword of Damocles

“[Jeddah] is a circuit, a bit like Monaco or Baku, where you have to get into a rhythm as early as possible and then just make incremental gains from there and not be overdriving," said Hamilton.

With this being the 5th round of the championship, a solid step forward, comparable to that of the Sunday race in Bahrain last weekend, would be most welcome. However the Briton believes he needs more time.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do to adapt the way I approach corners but it’s not impossible, it might just take a little bit of time but hopefully not too long."

As F1 shifted towards a ground effect aerodynamic load source due to its benefits for actual on track racing -reducing the dirty air left in the wake of the car ahead- several drivers' results have been reported to be resenting the changes, as they seemed to be unable to drive around the new F1 cars' needs. Most notably, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton.

“I won’t want to go too much into detail but it’s just driving style. Every driver had a driving style and my driving style has worked for many years."

“Naturally you adapt it a little bit over time but this one needs more of a drastic shift and so I found a couple of things that worked in the last race.”

Hamilton hopes to reach Q3 in F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

It was not an ideal Friday for Hamilton at Jeddah, the Briton notes as quoted by Sky Sports. "Not the greatest. I think getting the tyres working today was the issue from my side. It's nothing to do with the team. We were just struggling to get the tyres working."

"Normally Saturday goes backwards but there's not a lot backwards for me to go," said Hamilton after finishing P13 in FP2.

"There were a few bits through the session that felt good. Just once we got to the soft tyre, it's not there. We will make some changes overnight and hope we can come back strong."

How strong? The Briton doesn't set the bar all that high, revealing the tough situation he's currently experiencing in his first season driving in Ferrari red. "For me, I'm just trying to see if I can get into the top 10."

He's currently 7 points adrift off teammate Charles Leclerc in the championship. But in terms of pace, Hamilton has been trailing the Monegasque by a considerable amount, both in qualifying as well as in race trim.

Whether hard-hitting stat set by Russell's trouncing of Hamilton in their final year as teammates at Mercedes will be replicated, it remains to be seen.