George Russell qualified eighth in the other Mercedes, and Lewis Hamilton, who was eliminated in the first segment of qualifying, will line up in the 18th position for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton expressed amazement at how his Mercedes’s performance declined in the Chinese Grand Prix qualifying round, saying he didn’t think it could “get any worse” before making an unexpected early withdrawal.
The seven-time world champion made a strong start to the weekend, finishing second in the Sprint behind Max Verstappen. However, he could only manage to qualify for Sunday’s race in 18th place, with teammate George Russell taking eighth.
Before he lost a large amount of time by running wide at the Turn 14 hairpin, Hamilton was expected to comfortably move to the Q2 stage.
With just 34 points from the first four rounds, Mercedes has had the worst start to a Formula 1 season ever, trailing leaders Red Bull by 107 points.
“I just struggled,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
“I drastically altered my qualifying. In other areas, it wasn’t too bad, but in Turn 14, I couldn’t really get it to stop. That’s just the way things are. I’ll enjoy myself from behind that.
George and I had quite comparable automobiles this morning, but this afternoon we continued to experiment with it, so I drove a long way in one direction and he drove the other, just to see if we could find anything. Right now, that’s what needs to be done.
But it was unsuccessful. I’ll try my hardest at it.The eighteenth is not good.
“I thought, ‘Surely it can’t get any worse,’ as I began making the setup adjustments. Indeed, it did.
