Lewis Hamilton was called out over a “worrying” comment he made ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix.
Hamilton has so far endured a difficult Qatar Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion could only qualify in seventh for the sprint race while he’ll line up on the third row of the grid for Sunday’s race.
His team-mate George Russell, meanwhile, will start from pole position. Hamilton, the Formula 1 record holder for pole positions, has been beaten 18-5 by Russell in grand prix qualifying sessions this term.
When asked if there were any positives to take from Sprint Race qualifying, Hamilton said: “Not particularly, no.
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“The positive is that the car is fast and George should be able to shoot for pole tomorrow.”
When it was put to Hamilton that he can’t be the problem, he continued: “Who knows? I’m definitely not fast anymore.”
On Hamilton’s quotes, David Coulthard, who is covering the Grand Prix for Channel 4, admitted he was concerned by the Briton’s statement ahead of a high-profile move to Ferrari.
He said: “He’s as low as he can be right now.
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“Lewis is a winning machine, he’s broken all the records, but this isn’t a personality contest, it’s not an opinion contest, it’s a data-driven contest and to be out-qualified consistently by George, the greats don’t have bad cars.
“He’s got out of sorts with this current phase of his age and his formula and whether Ferrari are the kickstart to bring him back or not remains to be seen.
“But I would say that’s pretty worrying. It doesn’t detract from his brilliance, it doesn’t take away anything from the records, but there is a thing called mother nature and the clock is ticking.”
Topics: Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Formula 1, Ferrari, Mercedes
Chris Byfield