Lewis Hamilton had hoped for more than a ninth-place finish during the qualifying round in Bahrain. So far, the British driver’s first season with Ferrari has not gone as planned, and Hamilton takes responsibility for this. “I’m not doing my job well enough,” the driver laments.
On Saturday at the Bahrain International Circuit, Lewis Hamilton could not secure a higher starting position than ninth for the Grand Prix. As a result, the Brit will start the race behind his predecessor at Ferrari, Carlos Sainz. Once again, this is not the qualifying result Hamilton had hoped for, and the world champion immediately apologized to his team.
“I don’t really have many answers for you, I just wasn’t fast enough today,” a defeated Hamilton said immediately after qualifying. “I’m just not doing my job well enough, so I need to keep improving. That certainly doesn’t feel good.”
Ferrari tried to turn the tide with a number of changes to Hamilton’s SF-25 ahead of the third free practice. However, the world champion concludes that the adjustments had the opposite effect. “The adjustments we made overnight actually caused a setback in FP3. We made even more setup adjustments in the run-up to qualifying, but it just didn’t work out.”
Ray of Hope
Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc was able to secure a spot on the second starting row with his Ferrari car. Thanks to Russell’s grid penalty, the Monegasque will even start the race from P2. A commendable performance, according to the world champion, which gives him a glimmer of hope for the race. “The positive is that the race pace looked promising. With a long race ahead, there is still a chance to make progress,” the Ferrari driver sees a ray of hope.
