"I used to be so comfortable in qualifying": Lewis Hamilton reflects on a poor qualifying session in the F1 Italian GP

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton Insinuated that he was puzzled by his qualifying performance in the 2024 season after finishing P6 for the Italian Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion was one of the contenders to take pole position heading into the qualifying session as he had displayed an amazing pace in the practice sessions.

He delivered a competitive lap in his first run in Q3 as he finished P3 ahead of his teammate George Russell and just behind the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. However, the Brit was unable to replicate the same in his final run in the Q3 session as the lab just went away from him, and he qualified P6 behind The two Ferraris.

Speaking with the media, Lewis Hamilton presented a dejected outlook and claimed that he used to be 'comfortable in qualifying', saying:

"Probably just overdriving, when I get to qualifying I try to push a little bit too much in too many places and just have the wrong balance and I guess the wrong mindset.."

"It's something I've been working on but should have been on the front row for sure. It's been this way for a minute now and... used to be so comfortable in qualifying...ya..so..."

Lewis Hamilton blames himself for his qualifying woes at Monza

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton stated that he was unable to extract the maximum out of his W15 during the Italian Grand Prix, qualifying, and had no one to blame, apart from himself for qualifying P6 for the main race.

As per The Race, the 39-year-old said:

“I just didn’t extract the maximum. Turn 1 and 2, I lost a tenth and a half to my previous Q2 lap and then I lost another tenth in Turn 11, apex speed, so it was just absolutely ridiculous from my side. Completely unacceptable. And it’s totally me. Nothing else. Nobody else."

When asked about his chances to fight for a race win or a podium, Hamilton replied:

“We’re so far behind now. The chance of fighting for a race win is out the window. I think tomorrow I have just got to try and recover as much as I can and see if I can get past the Ferraris… to [challenge for] the podium.”

Lewis Hamilton's qualifying woes have been the talking point in the 2024 season as he trails his teammate George Russell 4-12 in head-to-head and has been losing a tenth of a second to him on average.

The Mercedes driver would hope that he could challenge the cars in front of him as he had displayed some effective race pace during the FP2 session where he was able to match the lap times of rivals McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull.