F1 News: Lewis Hamilton On China failure - 'It Can't Get Worse... It Did'

Alex Harrington | Apr 20, 2024

Mercedes AMG Petronas driver Lewis Hamilton is interviewed after the Sprint Race at Circuit of / Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman /

Lewis Hamilton, after a strong performance in the sprint, fell dramatically in the main qualifying session at the Shanghai International Circuit. The Mercedes driver, eliminated in the first round, will start from an uncustomarily low 18th on the grid.

At the Chinese Grand Prix qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton's unexpected early exit became the surprise of the day. Initially, Hamilton started the weekend with promise, placing second in the sprint race and even leading briefly. However, the tables turned during the main qualifying, where a series of missteps and risky setup changes relegated him to 18th position for the race start.

The root of Hamilton's trouble appeared in the final sector of his lap. A critical error, involving a lock-up at the notorious hairpin due to a tailwind reducing his W15's downforce, cost him significant time relative to his teammate, George Russell. The six-tenths of a second lost due to this mistake became his undoing as he was swiftly eliminated in Q1.

"Sorry guys," Hamilton communicated over the team radio, a brief apology that underscored his disappointment with the outcome.

In a post-qualifying interview, his frustration was palpable. 

"Struggled," he described succinctly. "I made massive changes into qualifying. It wasn’t too bad in some places. I couldn’t stop in Turn 14. It is what it is." 

According to the 7-time champion, prior to the qualifying, both Hamilton and Russell had similar setups, but diverged drastically for the afternoon session. 

"This morning George and I had very similar cars but this afternoon we’re trying to experiment still with the car so I went one way, a long way, and he went the other way just to see if we could find anything," Hamilton explained. 

The experimentation did not pay off this time. 

"That’s what we need to do at the moment but it didn’t work. I’ll give it my best shot…18th is pretty bad. When I was making the set-up changes I was like ‘it can’t get any worse, surely’ and it did. S*** happens."

Hamilton's career has seen him start from 18th two times before, both in 2009, and one of those instances was compounded by a five-place penalty due to a gearbox change. Despite these few precedents for low starts, Hamilton's record indicates an ability to recover impressively during races.

Looking ahead to the race, there's little doubt about Hamilton's ability to fight through the field, a skill he has demonstrated numerous times, but I doubt the W15 has the performance to match his intentions.

However, as the race approaches, Hamilton, known for extraordinary comebacks, will need all his skill and perhaps a bit of luck to navigate from the back of the pack.