Lewis Hamilton admitted his car felt “horrible” during qualifying in Monaco after having had to struggle with his Mercedes over the weekend so far.
Hamilton was one of the victims of the red flag that ended prematurely in Q3 on Saturday, with the seven-time former world champion truncated his last lap.
He will line up eighth on the grid on Sunday without having had a chance to improve, and although he was disappointed not to have another chance to make a better lap, he thought his first effort should have been better.
“I don’t think it’s very different,” Hamilton told Sky F1 when asked if a higher grid space had been possible for him.
“I think I needed to do the first lap and I didn’t. He had the wrong strategy, the engine strategy for the start of the fast lap. So yes, unfortunate session. Monaco is like that. “
A very strange end to the session but the home hero will start on Sunday P1!
It’s a top 10 LEC, SAI, PER, VER, NOR, RUS, ALO, HAM, VET and OCO for tomorrow’s race. #MonacoGP # F1 pic.twitter.com/oszujWSeob
– PlanetF1 (@ Planet_F1) May 28, 2022
Hamilton was heard on the team’s radio talking several times about Mercedes’ problems with the Monaco rebound, with the stiffer suspension and new 18-inch wheels that highlight the lumps and bumps of Monte Carlo for each driver.
But having seemed to have eliminated a significant part of his porpoise problems in Spain, Hamilton has seemed uncomfortable all weekend so far in his car.
But even if his car had been in the right operating window for him, Hamilton said he would still be behind the Red Bull and Ferrari duos.
“Horrible,” he said with a smile when asked how his W13 had felt. “It feels really bad here. It’s very bumpy, for some reason. It’s hard for us to go down for a second [behind] the boys [in front].
“A lot of risk, but I think yesterday was a bad day and today the car felt a little better, but it seemed that we went a little slower in FP3.
“Then in the standings we made a few more changes and we felt we were getting a little closer. But with a perfect lap, I feel like we could have been maybe six tenths of a second behind, but there’s still a decent bit [of a gap]. ”
Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes, George Russell, will take 6th place on Sunday, with Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz blocking the front row ahead of the two Red Bulls in the second row.