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Lewis Hamilton was surprisingly happy with making his way to Q3 after what had been an underwhelming weekend, even though once again he got dominated by Charles Leclerc. In the new ground effect era, qualifying has not been Hamilton's strongest suit, and it was magnified last season against George Russell.
This time around in the F1 Saudi Arabian GP qualifying, Hamilton once again didn't have the best of qualifying. The Brit was only able to qualify in P7, while teammate Leclerc will start the race in P4. Unfortunately for Hamilton, this has been a trend throughout the season.
If we ignore the F1 Chinese GP race weekend, every other event has been one-sided. So much so that Lewis Hamilton has been seen apologizing to his team for the lack of pace.
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The F1 Saudi Arabian GP qualifying was no different, but the driver was happy with what he had been able to achieve, especially considering where he was in the previous sessions. Talking to the media, including Sportskeeda, the driver said:
"It was challenging, as always, qualifying for me. I'd been nowhere all weekend - 13th I think in almost every session - so, honestly, I feel grateful to have got to Q3 and P7. Not a spectacular last lap but have been making improvements all weekend. Needed a better lap at the end but, as I said, I'm just grateful to be there. Still plenty of time to come."
Lewis Hamilton praying for a better run in the race
While Lewis Hamilton continues to struggle over a lap, his race pace has been decent even compared to Charles Leclerc. The Brit will be starting the race in P7 behind even Carlos Sainz. He will be ahead of the likes of Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris, and Yuki Tsunoda as well.
Looking ahead to the race, Hamilton is hoping for a reversal of fortunes, as he said:
"Praying, more like! Trying to bond with this car on a single lap is something that I am finding very difficult at the moment. But we don't give up. When there's a will there's a way, we keep pushing, keep trying, have got some amazing support so just keep working hard."
Lewis Hamilton has not had a great run around the F1 Saudi Arabian GP anyway, but the better race pace could see the driver exploit some of the performance that does appear to be at his disposal for now. He will be starting the race in P7, while teammate Leclerc will be in P4.
The Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda and the McLaren of Lando Norris will be behind Hamilton at the start of the race, and it will be interesting to see if those drivers play a role in his race as well.
