I am undoubtedly not quick anymore

Lewis Hamilton has issued a damning verdict on his personal performances in System 1 proper now, saying “I am undoubtedly not quick anymore.”

The seven-time world champion endured one other troublesome qualifying session in Qatar on Friday, as he ended up seventh on the grid for the dash race.

This was 5 locations behind his team-mate George Russell, who was 0.399 seconds quicker as he secured a spot on the entrance row alongside pole place man Lando Norris.

After a season the place Hamilton has struggled to get on high of his automobile in qualifying, having overwhelmed Russell simply six instances versus 22 in all aggressive periods to date (5-17 excluding sprints), F1’s pole place document holder has instructed that he is probably not nearly as good as he as soon as was.

Requested whether or not the difficulty was of Hamilton’s personal making, he stated: “Who is aware of? I am undoubtedly not quick anymore.”

Hamilton was clear that the relative lack of tempo in comparison with Russell in Qatar was the results of him not performing, somewhat than it being any downside together with his automobile.

“Identical as each different qualifying, not that nice,” he stated. “I am simply sluggish and similar each weekend. So yeah, automobile felt comparatively first rate. No, no points, and probably not way more to say.”

Whereas Hamilton has typically discovered himself higher in relative phrases in race tempo in comparison with qualifying, he says that he’s nonetheless leaving himself with an excessive amount of to do by beginning races to date again.

“The long term did not really feel too unhealthy, however while you’re all the time again the place I’m, it makes it very laborious to be competing for – effectively nearly unimaginable just about – to be competing for wins from there. However that is the dash. I am going to do what I can tomorrow.”

Requested if the reset for qualifying on Saturday night time would supply him an opportunity to do higher, Hamilton stated: “Not notably, no. I imply, the constructive is that the automobile is quick, and George must be out to shoot for pole tomorrow.”