"I gave it everything" - Lewis Hamilton surprised by Mercedes being 'so far behind' Red Bull and Ferrari at Abu Dhabi

Lewis Hamilton was a bit surprised by Mercedes' lack of pace in qualifying. He qualified in P5 but wasn't a threat to Red Bull or Ferrari.

Hamilton said that Mercedes expected to struggle in Abu Dhabi, especially in the long straights in sector 2. However, he didn't expect a significant deficit to the frontrunners, saying:

"We came here expecting this to be a difficult one for us but we didn't expect a gap of eight tenths to pole position. We were losing six tenths today on the straights to the top cars. I gave it everything, so it's a bit of a surprising result and just being so far behind Red Bull and Ferrari. Hopefully our race pace tomorrow will be better than our qualifying pace today."

He added:

"There's also some bouncing at this track, which adds to our lack of performance and issues with temperature splits on the brakes, which we've experienced throughout the whole season.The whole team is working hard, and they're doing an incredible job to fix these issues, especially also for next year. I'm looking to tomorrow and the final race of the season!"

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Mercedes explain third-row qualifying for Lewis Hamilton

Andrew Shovlin explained post-qualifying the reason behind Lewis Hamilton and George Russell's struggles in qualifying.

That apparently came about due to the team opting for a set-up that leaned more towards the race, so Mercedes leaked a lot of time on the straights. He said:

"We had a solid FP3, looking like we were sitting between the Red Bulls and Ferraris on single lap pace, so it's disappointing to end up 5th and 6th. Through the weekend, it has felt like we are at our best on the hot track and struggling to find the grip in the cooler evening conditions."

He continued:

"The decisions we made with the car setup are biased towards race pace, and on a long run everything is running hotter anyway, so we're still hopeful that we can have a race where we are looking forwards not backwards, but a third row start for both cars means that we have our work cut out if we are to challenge at the front."

The 2022 season has not been the best for Hamilton, as he has failed to secure a pole or a win.