Lewis Hamilton is still struggling for a breakthrough at Ferrari heading into Grand Prix Sunday at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

And the seven-time World Champion’s “exasperated” response to being told his deficit to make up ahead of qualifying, had Brundle claiming it is “not working” for Hamilton currently at Ferrari, and suggesting the situation is being made worse.

Lewis Hamilton going in ‘wrong direction’ at Ferrari: Is there an escape?

Hamilton ended the final practice session in P12 and 1.3 seconds off the ultimate pace, while the gap to team-mate Charles Leclerc was four tenths.

By the end of qualifying, Hamilton’s position was improved as he secured P7 on the grid, but the deficit to Leclerc had grown to over half a second.

Hamilton was informed in FP3 of where he was losing time by Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami, after he radioed in to ask: “How far am I down on the sectors?”

“Seven tenths first sector, four tenths second sector,” Adami replied. “And we aborted the last sector.”

Hamilton’s response was simply: “Jeez…”

Hamilton later added: “I just don’t have the grip, mate. I don’t know.”

Sky F1 pundit and commentator Martin Brundle initially reflected to this as “almost uncomfortable viewing and listening” with Hamilton, and ahead of qualifying, further expanded on his take on Hamilton’s difficult situation at Ferrari.

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While Hamilton took Sprint pole and victory in China, he is yet to finish a grand prix ahead of Leclerc, and his qualifying form in particular has become a growing concern.

Hamilton suffered a heavy 19-5 defeat to George Russell in qualifying trim during their final season as Mercedes team-mates last year.

“A Formula 1 car goes a very long way in seven tenths of a second,” said Brundle, in reference to Adami’s reveal that Hamilton was giving up seven tenths in the first sector alone in FP3.

“And, you know, no wonder Lewis was exasperated to get those numbers. We heard a little bit of that last year as well, didn’t we, in his final year at Mercedes.

“But he’s not dialled in. In fact, I think he’s going in the wrong direction with that Ferrari in terms of set-up, driving style, whatever. It’s not working. He seems to be falling away, rather than moving towards where he needs to be.”

A positive for Hamilton is that Leclerc remains very much within reach in the current Drivers’ standings, the gap only seven points ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

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