Lewis Hamilton felt disappointed with his performance in the sprint qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix. He ended up sixth, almost six-tenths behind Max Verstappen‘s pole time.
Hamilton has been hard on himself since Mercedes made improvements in Canada and Spain. He even called his race in Canada one of the worst of his career.
Hamilton Struggles in Austria
In SQ1, drivers only get one set of medium tires. Hamilton messed up at the first corner but kept going, only to go off track again and lose his lap time. This left him struggling right from the start, even wondering on the radio if he made it to SQ2.
“I wasn’t in the mix at all. The whole session was disastrous from my point,” Hamilton told F1TV after the session. “Practice felt good. The car felt good. I don’t think we had the pace to be on pole, but very bad laps,” he added.
Fans might feel surprised by this news since they expect more from him.
Hamilton aims to make up for lost ground during Saturday’s sprint but admits he’s mainly focused on qualifying for the Grand Prix. “I don’t think overtaking is for here but we’ll give it our best. It’s not usually an eventful race, so the focus will be on getting a better qualifying tomorrow.”
What do you think? Will Hamilton bounce back?
