"Lewis Hamilton is less of a great qualifier" - Pundit opines on the F1 legend's deficit to George Russell in qualifying

F1 pundit Craig Slater spoke about Lewis Hamilton's weaker qualifying performance compared to his teammate George Russell. The Sky Sports presenter also questioned if Hamilton's focus is more on the Grand Prix than qualifying.

Back in 2023, both Hamilton and Russell were at par when it came to qualifying performances. In a head-to-head comparison, they drew 11-11 in 2023's qualifying sessions. Coming into 2024, however, the tally shifts.

In the first seven races of the season so far, George Russell is way ahead of Lewis Hamilton in terms of qualifying, with a 6-1 lead if compared head-to-head. The only race in which Hamilton out-qualified Russell was Japan. In the first few races of 2024, Hamilton was several positions behind his Mercedes teammate.

Mentioning Russell and Hamilton's qualifying performances on Sky Sports, Craig Slater speculated that age could be a factor in Hamilton's dip in pace. He also felt that the seven-time world champion could be focusing more on the main Grand Prix than qualifying.

"Is it a sign that the age of 39, Lewis is less of a great qualifier and maybe more of an expert racer these days? Maybe his skills are more over race distance. It is an interesting question," Slater said.

Slater also questioned Mercedes' performance after discussing Russell and Hamilton's qualifying stats.

"He [Hamilton] is six-one down to George Russell in qualifying this year. Does it reflect where Mercedes are at, at the moment? And maybe Lewis is placing more emphasis on his car's race setup," the F1 pundit mused.

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Lewis Hamilton satisfied after cracking Q3 at the 2024 F1 Miami GP

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton stated that he was happy to crack into Q3 at the 2024 F1 Miami GP.

Hamilton had a poor qualifying and sprint race at Miami. The Mercedes driver qualified P12 for the sprint and ended up in P16. Speaking to Sky Sports after the Miami GP's main qualifying session, however, Hamilton was happy to at least get into Q3, even though the Q3 itself was not the greatest for him.

He then spoke about how slow Mercedes were, so much so that they were fighting with Haas on the track.

"Generally, it's been a much better day. We went forwards in the Sprint and then Qualifying, getting into Q3 was positive. Q3 just wasn't really great but I'm grateful to get into there," Hamilton said.

For us to be eighth tenths off is tough. We are fighting Haas and I don't really know if that's the true speed of our car or whether it's the tyres. I think there's a lot in these tyres that we are struggling to... we have not been able to use them all year," he added.

At the Miami GP, Lewis Hamilton qualified P8, right behind his teammate George Russell. In the race, Hamilton gained a few places and secured P6, while Russell lost a couple and ended up in P8.