Lewis Hamilton turned in another poor qualifying performance at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday evening. He’ll start the race from seventh on the grid.
The positive reading is that Hamilton has improved on his Japan (P8) and Bahrain (P9) showings. Only in China has he qualified on the front three rows.
But the gap to Charles Leclerc is the real reference point. He was more than half a second behind his Ferrari teammate.
4-1 down to his teammate in the head-to-head, Hamilton also suffered the ignominy of being outqualified by Carlos Sainz. The Williams driver lost his seat to the seven-time world champion at the end of last year.
Martin Brundle says Lewis Hamilton is ‘falling away’ rather than progressing at Ferrari
Speaking before Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying, Martin Brundle predicted that Hamilton would struggle. The gap to Leclerc was similar in practice, with the Englishman sounding dismayed over the radio.
It reminded the Sky Sports pundit of his last season at Mercedes, where he lost 19-5 to George Russell on a Saturday. Informed of the deficit by engineer Riccardo Adami during FP3, Hamilton simply said ‘jeez’.
Immediately after that message was replayed, Brundle ominously declared that Hamilton was going backwards at his new team. He won the Sprint in Shanghai, but that looks like a false dawn rather than a launchpad.
“We heard a little bit of that last year as well in his final year at Mercedes,” said Brundle. “He’s not dialled in.
“I think he’s going in the wrong direction with that Ferrari in terms of set-up, driving style. It’s not working. He seems to be falling away rather than moving towards where he needs to be.”
After qualifying, Hamilton was visibly unhappy as he studied the timing screens. He’d even benefitted from Lando Norris’ accident, which condemned the McLaren driver to 10th.
“Lewis shaking his head looking at those times,” Brundle observed. “He’s a second off pole.”
Damon Hill deeply concerned by Lewis Hamilton remarks before Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Brundle’s statement about Hamilton was his bleakest yet. Up to this point, the narrative has been that the 40-year-old needs time to adapt to a new car, so one would expect constant, if gradual progress.
Instead, the Sky pundit believes he’s losing his way. Ferrari have been telling Hamilton to brake earlier, which may be a sign that he’s pushing too hard.
Even before the race, Damon Hill was concerned that Hamilton called the Ferrari experience ‘alien’. Sainz has also had to acclimatise, but he’s now hitting his stride while his replacement is in disarray.
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