Hamilton Disheartened by Q2 Exit Ahead of Australian GP
Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, expressed disappointment after failing to progress beyond Q2 in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. Struggling to find his rhythm with the Mercedes W15 in Melbourne, Hamilton described his emotions as “flat” following the setback.
Hamilton’s weekend at the Albert Park Circuit has been fraught with challenges, with the Briton labeling Friday’s Free Practice 2 session as “one of the worst” he had experienced in a “long time,” citing difficulties with set-up experiments.
Despite showing signs of improvement in FP3 earlier on Saturday, Hamilton faced difficulties in qualifying and was ousted from Q3 contention by RB’s Yuki Tsunoda.
Reflecting on his reaction to missing out on the top-10 shootout, Hamilton admitted, “I’m used to it. I’m a bit used to it now, getting knocked out of Q2. Kind of just a flat feeling. It’s not great, but yeah.”
Acknowledging his struggle to find solutions with the car throughout the Australian Grand Prix weekend and previous races, Hamilton conceded, “[I’ve been] less consistent than George [Russell], George is doing a better job with our car. Three qualifyings in a row that he’s outqualified me. He just seems to get on a lot better than I do. So yeah, just trying to keep my head above water and continue to realize it could be way worse.”
Indeed, Russell secured a grid slot ahead of his teammate once again, finishing qualifying in seventh place. Despite the team’s apparent lack of pace compared to earlier sessions, Russell remains optimistic about the car’s performance on race day.
Hamilton remains hopeful of being competitive amidst a field of varying cars, aiming to challenge McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who incurred a grid penalty, among others.
Anticipating potential strategy variations due to the unused hard tire, Hamilton believes there are opportunities to gain positions during the race, emphasizing the uncertainty that lies ahead for all drivers on Sunday.
