Lewis Hamilton voiced his displeasure with the Mercedes W14 after his disappointing Abu Dhabi GP qualifying performance.
The Formula One circus landed in Abu Dhabi earlier this week for the last race of the 2023 season. And, only lately, the F1 world watched the last Qualifying session of the year, as twenty drivers competed for the coveted pole position on the Yas Marina Circuit. This is where Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen had their dramatic battle during the difficult championship fight two years ago. The British driver had been vanquished by the Red Bull driver, denying him the opportunity to win his eighth World Championship.
Lewis Hamilton’s fortunes in Abu Dhabi have not been much better up to this point. The 38-year-old took to the track for Qualifying, seeking to finish in the top ten. Unfortunately, he was eliminated in Q2 with a P11 position after his own teammate George Russell completed one last lap to break into Q1. The racer was disappointed and irritated, admitting to SkySports F1 that he hoped to complete the year with a boom.
Lewis’ job has now been quadrupled since he will have to repeat his remarkable 15-car overtaking maneuver from Las Vegas in order to finish within the top 10 racers in the Main Race. He has attributed his misfortunes on the Mercedes W14.
“There’s something not right with the car, mate.” – Lewis Hamilton said on the team radio, addressing his Race Engineer.
Lewis Hamilton had predicted disaster for Mercedes quite early on in Abu Dhabi
The Abu Dhabi weekend kicked off on Friday with the traditional F1 Practice Sessions. During FP1, Lewis Hamilton did not participate, but his substitute, Frederik Vesti, was down in 12th position. And Hamilton did improve in FP2, but only to P8. Following such performances, he predicted that the Abu Dhabi GP would be difficult for the Mercedes team to crack.
‘”Just going to try and see if there’s a way to get into Q3. We’ve had difficult qualifying sessions and getting out of Q1, into Q2, is always a tough battle. Just going to try and see if there’s a way to get into Q3. We’ve had difficult qualifying sessions and getting out of Q1, into Q2, is always a tough battle.”
In other news, George Russell outperformed Lewis throughout the Abu Dhabi FP sessions and Qualifying. Russell finished first in FP1 despite being in just his second season as a Silver Arrows driver, and he will start the Main Race from the second row with a P4 starting position.
