Lewis Hamilton’s qualifying struggles have been one of the great mysteries in the 2024 Formula 1 season. If you ask him, he says he’s just ‘slow’ at this late stage of his career.
Of course, the reality is likely to be more complicated than that. Hamilton’s answer may change after he’s had time to reflect on his Mercedes farewell over the winter.
One theory is that the current generation of F1 cars simply don’t suit the seven-time world champion. He’s rarely shown peak form since the start of 2022, but that still doesn’t explain why the drop-off has been so sharp this year.
Indeed, George Russell now leads Hamilton 18-5 in qualifying over the course of the season. In their first two years together, it was hard to separate them over a single lap.
Perhaps Hamilton has ‘clocked out’ and is mentally at Ferrari already. But he wouldn’t seem so dejected if he was truly apathetic.
Sky Sports F1 pundit Naomi Schiff posited another theory before Qatar GP qualifying. She wonders if Mercedes are developing the car away from Hamilton so it suits Russell before he becomes the de facto team leader alongside rookie Kimi Antonelli in 2025.
Lewis Hamilton was wondering what he ‘had to do’ to optimise his Mercedes at Qatar Grand Prix
After Q2, Schiff’s colleague Anthony Davidson reviewed Hamilton’s onboard footage. He was briefly at risk of elimination before he found a late lap to jump up to fourth place.
But Davidson noticed Hamilton lifting his hand in bemusement after he crossed the line on one of his laps. It was a sign that he didn’t know how to extract more lap time.
Russell has consistently been around four-tenths faster over the course of the weekend – an alarming margin. That was the gap between the two at the end of qualifying as the 26-year-old ended up on the front row and Hamilton had to settle for sixth.
“As he crossed the line on that particular lap, the hand goes up, as if to say ‘what on Earth do I have to do?’,” Davidson observed on Sky F1. “Luckily, he turned it around and he’s through to the next round [Q3].”
George Russell radio message at Qatar Grand Prix looks damning for Lewis Hamilton
Peter Windsor is shocked that Hamilton is lacking motivation at Lusail. At the start of the year, very few would have expected his Mercedes farewell to pan out this way.
But Windsor says Hamilton should still be optimistic because he’s joining a more competitive Ferrari team this year. And yet, Carlos Sainz, who’s dropping to struggling Williams, appears more energised right now.
It was telling that, during Q1 on Saturday, Russell offered Hamilton a tow. This was a sensible act of teamwork that allowed F1’s most successful driver to jump up the order.
But it also highlighted the gulf in performance. The 26-year-old was so comfortable that he could afford to proactively help his beleaguered partner, which some will construe as an almost sympathetic gesture.
Leave feedback about this