Martin Brundle ‘struggles to buy’ what Lewis Hamilton just said after ‘difficult’ Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton might be slightly confused by his performance across the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend.

Throughout practice, Hamilton never looked as comfortable as Charles Leclerc and qualifying was a real test of his skills.

He snuck his Ferrari into Q3 by the barest of margins and eventually put the SF-25 onto the fourth row alongside Yuki Tsunoda, although behind Carlos Sainz’s Williams.

He benefited from two of the most competitive cars starting behind him, Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, taking each other out on the opening lap.

Unfortunately, this opened Hamilton up to more pressure from Lando Norris behind him, although the seven-time world champion used all of his guile to slow him down, even if keeping him behind was never a long-term option.

Norris overtook him twice going into the final corner, allowing Hamilton to use the DRS to re-take the position into turn one.

However, that was one of the only positives he could take from the race, as he finished in the same position he started; seventh.

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Martin Brundle reacts to Lewis Hamilton’s disappointed Saudi Arabian Grand Prix comments

Hamilton was asked in his official post-race interview if there was a point in the race where he started to feel comfortable as his pace improved and he simply replied, “No, there wasn’t one second.

“Clearly, the car is capable of being in P3, so, Charles did a great job today, so I can’t blame the car.”

He was then pushed on whether he knows why it’s not working for him yet and he added, “No.”

Reacting to Hamilton’s comments on Sky Sports F1 (20/4 8:28 pm), Martin Brundle explained, “Well, Fred summed it up because he said it’s been a bit up and down.

“There was a time where we talked about it on commentary, where he was in the mid 1:32s which is bang on the pace, but he ended up 31 seconds behind Charles Leclerc, his teammate.

“Obviously, he had a little bit more traffic because he was further down the grid, so you can take some off for that.

“But it was up and down. I struggle to buy into he doesn’t understand the car. It’s a new car, here we are, knocking on the door of May and they’ve had all the pre-season stuff and all of that.

“So, I just think Lewis hasn’t gelled with this car. I don’t think he’s going the right way on the set-up. We know Lewis has a very… I know from the things I’ve heard from Mercedes about how Lewis likes the car a certain way.

“He obviously can’t get the car there where he needs it, so it’s difficult days. What’s a bit odd, is all of a sudden he was right there.”

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Martin Brundle already not buying into Lewis Hamilton theory

Hamilton has had his ups and downs during his short time with Ferrari, but once again being beaten by Leclerc won’t help his confidence.

Brundle admitted he was buying into a worrying Hamilton theory in Bahrain, and it doesn’t appear as though his most recent comments have convinced him that a rapid improvement is just around the corner.

Fred Vasseur was disappointed with Ferrari’s performance in qualifying, and insists that the 40-year-old simply needs time to get used to the car.

Unfortunately, Formula 1 doesn’t allow drivers, even of the calibre of Hamilton, the time he needs to get up to speed.

It was put to Brundle that it can take drivers up to half a season to get up to speed in new cars, which he quickly dismissed and said: “Yeah, OK, but it took Ollie Bearman a day last year here.

“But then, he wasn’t relearning a car, he was just getting in and learning a car.

“Antonelli’s got used to working with Bono [Peter Bonnington] quite quickly and working with that car, but he’s done a lot of testing last year.

“I struggle to buy into that, honestly, but we know Lewis is better, Lewis is faster than that, so something’s not working.”