Lewis Hamilton has delivered a harsh assessment of his current performances in Formula 1, stating, "I'm definitely not fast anymore." The seven-time world champion faced another challenging qualifying session in Qatar on Friday, finishing seventh on the grid for the sprint race.
This placed him five spots behind his teammate George Russell, who was 0.399 seconds quicker, earning a position on the front row next to pole-sitter Lando Norris. After a season where Hamilton has found it challenging to master his car in qualifying, having outperformed Russell only six times compared to 22 in all competitive sessions to date (5-17 excluding sprints), the F1 pole position record holder hinted that he might not be as proficient as he once was.
When questioned if the issue was Hamilton's own doing, he responded, "Who knows? I'm definitely not fast anymore." Hamilton clarified that the reason for his slower pace compared to Russell in Qatar was due to his own performance, not any issue with his car.
"Same as every other qualifying, not that great," he said. "I'm just slow and same every weekend. So yeah, car felt relatively decent. No, no issues, and not really much more to say."
Although Hamilton frequently performs better in race pace compared to qualifying, he acknowledges that starting races from the back leaves him with too much to overcome.
"The long run felt okay, but being so far back makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to compete for wins. However, that's the sprint. I'll do my best tomorrow."
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