- Lewis Hamilton candidly reflected on his performance in Qatar sprint qualifying
- The seven-time world champion will start in seventh in Saturday’s sprint race
Lewis Hamilton offered a frank assessment of his performance after sprint qualifying in Qatar.
The seven-time world champion has repeatedly struggled in qualifying this year, and his unwanted streak continued on Friday in Lusail.
While Mercedes team-mate George Russell impressed and will line up second on Saturday behind McClaren’s Lando Norris, Hamilton was forced to settle for seventh.
Speaking following the session Hamilton reflected on his disappointing showings in qualifying this season.
‘Same as every other qualifying, not that great,’ he said.
‘I’m just slow. Same every weekend. Car felt relatively decent. You know, no issues. Not really much more to say.’
‘The long run didn’t feel too bad, but when you’re always back where I am, it makes it very hard to be competing – well, almost impossible, pretty much – to be competing for wins from there. But that’s the Sprint, I’ll do what I can tomorrow.
In his final season before his move to Ferrari, the 39-year-old has been consistently outpaced in qualifying by his compatriot Russell.
Friday’s result sees the head-to-head gulf between the pair grow to 17-5 in Russell’s favour not including those for sprint races.
When it was put to him that his recent showings could be a result of the car Hamilton responded: ‘Who knows? I’m definitely not fast anymore.’
He continued: ‘When you are always back where I am it makes it almost impossible to compete for wins from there. But that’s the sprint. I’ll do what I can tomorrow.
‘The positive is the car is fast and George should be able to shoot for pole tomorrow.’
