Lewis Hamilton issues apology to Ferrari after a shambolic F1 Bahrain GP qualifying

Lewis Hamilton suffered a dismal qualifying session at the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend on Saturday. He qualified a subpar P9 for the race on Sunday and was left dejected after his final Q3 run. Discontented with his run for letting down Ferrari, he radioed the team an apology on his cooldown lap while returning to the pit lane.

The seven-time champion joined the elusive Scuderia over the winter break with the hopes of winning the eighth title that he has eluded for long. While the debut with the team at the Australian Grand Prix weekend was a dismal one as he finished tenth in that race, he got a breakthrough at the Sprint in China.

However, his happiness did not last long as he suffered an underwhelming outing at the Chinese Grand Prix a day later and was subsequently disqualified for excessive plank wear. He then returned to a normal routine at the Japanese Grand Prix, but fans attached hopes to Lewis Hamilton and anticipated a better weekend in Bahrain.

Despite this, the Briton's pace seemingly deteriorated as the weekend progressed, and he qualified P9 for the Grand Prix on Sunday. He was even outqualified by Carlos Sainz, a driver who was ousted due to Hamilton's arrival at Ferrari. Admitting that he messed up his Q3 run, the 40-year-old said over the radio:

"“Yeah, I’m sorry guys. I’m sorry man, really sorry."

Ferrari had brought upgrades for the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, and Lewis Hamilton got the first hand at the new package as his teammate sat out the session earlier in the weekend due to Dino Beganovic's FP1 outing.

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What is in store for Ferrari after Lewis Hamilton's underwhelming qualification?

Lewis Hamilton driving the Ferrari SF-25 at the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain - Qualifying - Source: Getty

While the Briton got the first taste of the new upgraded SF-25, his pace wandered all over the place during the practice sessions. Moreover, this trend continued into qualifying, where he was outqualified by Charles Leclerc with a hefty margin.

The Monegasque clinched a top-three start, while Hamilton will start the race on the fifth row for the race. Reflecting on how his Ferrari venture has worked out so far, the former Mercedes driver revealed the one thing missing in his new F1 chapter, and said (via Planet F1):

"Just consistency. Just pulling the laps together, having a car that’s easy to drive and that’s consistent through the lap. At the moment, it’s a bit different between low, medium and high [speed], as you often have, and so we’re just trying to finesse it, trying to tweak it, and then make sure that we have good long run pace, because that’s where you need to be strong here in particular."

On the other hand, Oscar Piastri clinched the pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton's former teammate, George Russell, will accompany the Aussie on the front row when the lights go green for the 57-lap race.