Hamilton Confused By Gap To Russell: 'Never Happened In My Career'

Saturday, 30 November 2024 at 21:50

Lewis Hamilton confessed after the qualifying in Qatar that he couldn't figure out why he lacks almost half a second on George Russell.

Lewis Hamilton was outperformed by his teammate George Russell in 23 out of the 29 qualifying sessions (including qualifying for the sprint races) that have taken place in 2024.

Performances on Saturdays have been a real struggle for the seven-time World Champion throughout the whole season, and he has made it clear on a couple of occasions, such as after the Monaco Grand Prix.

Even though the 39-year-old makes up for most of his qualifying deficit during the Grand Prix races on Sundays, he tends to be out of contention for podiums or race wins due to poor starting position.

During the most recent race in Las Vegas, Hamilton went from P10 into P2 and suggested that taking a victory would have been "a breeze" if he had started the race from the front row. However, he lacked too much in qualifying.

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Much hasn't changed coming to Qatar, and the seven-time World Champion qualified in P6, 0.436 seconds behind his teammate Russell, who will be thinking about potential race victory as he starts from the front row.

Speaking to the media after the qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton revealed that he couldn't figure out how he was losing so much time compared to Russell.

"I can't explain why I'm half a second off my teammate. It's never happened really in my career, so I can't explain that."

"What I can say is that the car felt generally fine for me, um, yeah. There's not really much more i can add. (I'm) giving it absolutely everything... I just came across the line, and it's slow."

"I have no clue, man. I don't have an answer for you. It's not been great. At this point, I really don't care, I just want to get through these next couple of races and do my job, turn up and I'm looking forward to the winter break."

"The most important this is to leave with gratitude, so I'm really grateful that I get to do what I love doing even when there are days when I don't love it as much."