Lewis Hamilton looked a bit disappointed after the qualifying session for the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix, as he yet again lost in a matchup against his teammate.
The seven-time World Champion firstly positively surprised all the Mercedes fans as he looked solid throughout all the practice sessions. In FP1, he scored P1; in FP2, he was second; and in FP3, he put in the third fastest time of the session.
However, as tends to be the case with Mercedes and Hamilton this season, he seemingly lost some time between the final practice session and qualifying.
Ultimately, the 39-year-old qualified in P7, 0,078 seconds behind his teammate George Russell in P5. Speaking to the media after the race, the Briton explained he didn't expect to be able to beat the Russell because of an upgrade that only the 26-year-old had.
"I anticipated it would be difficult to outqualify George because he has the upgraded component, but it's just great to see that we are bringing upgrades."
The seven-time World Champion told the media before the weekend that he wasn't too bothered by qualifying results. But now, he has elaborated on the matter, revealing he has some mysterious problem that he cannot resolve.
"Once we go into qualifying, I know automatically that I'm going to lose two tenths. That's definitely frustrating and something that I don't really have an answer for at the moment. I'm not driving any different, the laps were really great, just lacking for some reason."
Interestingly, the 39-year-old Mercedes driver then went on to state that he doesn't expect to be able to beat his teammate in qualifying this year.
"I don't anticipate being ahead of George [Russell] in qualifying, particularly in this year, but we just have to keep pushing, and the races are strong."
When asked why he doesn't expect to be able to beat his teammate "all year," Hamilton shook his head and added, "We'll see."