Hamilton Calls His Mercedes 'Nightmare To Drive' After P6 In Qualifying

Sunday, 29 October 2023 at 17:00

Updated at Saturday, 02 December 2023 at 18:15

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The seven-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton called his Mercedes "nightmare to drive" after achieving P6 in qualifying for the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix.

Despite his disqualification at the United States Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton looked at the positives after the race and said he felt positive about the progress made that weekend.

However, the seven-time World Champion had a very tough time getting into grips with his Mercedes from the first lap at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.

The Mercedes driver finished all Free Practice sessions with results below expectations, placing in P11, then P7, and finally P10 in the final practice round.

The Qualifying pace on Mercedes did not look too bad when Hamilton scored a best time of 1:17.571 at the end of Q2. But the 38-year-old could not improve as much as other drivers during Q3.

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While the Ferrari drivers who secured the front row lock-out improved their times by 0.8 and 1.1 seconds, Hamilton could only improve by 0.1 seconds, about 0.3 seconds down from the pole position lap of Charles Leclerc.

Frustrated with the performance after the end of qualifying, the seven-time World Champion told Sky Sports F1 his car was a "bit of a nightmare to drive."

"I have been struggling all weekend with the car. The car has been a bit of a nightmare to drive. It just doesn't like this track."

Hamilton mentioned there were some positive changes going into qualifying, but it was not enough. The Mercedes driver does not think he could do better than P5.

"In a perfect world, I could have been fifth but that's about it. It's going to be a real challenge in that car tomorrow. Brakes are overheating, it's going to be hard for us to battle."

Hamilton mentioned he struggles with overheating brakes, which is something that might be an issue going into the race on Sunday. He will start for the third row alongside Championship rival for second place, Sergio Perez.