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Lewis Hamilton conceded that it is just not good enough from his side to be qualifying in P8. The Ferrari driver has had an intriguing start to the season where, unlike expectations from many, he's not had many issues adapting to the car. Even though we cannot say that the driver is happy with where he is in terms of understanding the car, it's nothing like the struggles he had with the Mercedes last season.
His qualifying session for the F1 Japanese GP was more or less on the same level as teammate Charles Leclerc. Throughout the session, it did appear that both drivers would end up qualifying either on the similar rows or with a gap that would not be too much.
It did not pan out in that manner, as Q3 was a disappointing session for Lewis Hamilton. In both of his attempts, the driver was unable to put together optimal laps, and that hurt him. As the chequered flag fell on the session, the driver was only P8 while teammate Charles Leclerc was in P4.
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What makes it worse is the fact that Lewis Hamilton was even behind rookies Isack Hadjar and Kimi Antonelli. Talking to Sky Sports, the 7x time champion admitted that the session was just not good enough for him. He said:
"Not good enough from my side. P8 is not great. We are running higher than I would like but everyone is in the same boat. Charles [Leclerc] did an amazing job. We went in different directions with set-up. I had a lot of understeer and just couldn't dial it up. I genuinely love the rain so I hope it comes tomorrow after a qualifying like that."
Lewis Hamilton's teammate happy to qualify on the second row
Lewis Hamilton's teammate, Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, had a somewhat positive session as he lines up in P4 for the race. Compared to his veteran teammate, Leclerc was quite satisfied with the lap, as he felt that there wasn't much he could have done beyond what he was able to accomplish in the car. He said,
"The lap was really good. I put everything in that lap. There wasn't much I could have done better. Yesterday I was quite happy because we worked really well and unlocked some performance in the car. In qualifying, it started to go away from us a little bit, especially in Q3. I had either a lot of oversteer or understeer but the lap I did, I was really happy with it."
"We need to keep working. There's still a big gap compared to McLaren and Red Bull and this is our target. On the whole, it's been positive because I feel a lot more comfortable with the car," the Brit added.
Lewis Hamilton starts the race in P8 behind two rookies on Sunday and would be hoping to put together a stronger run than what he achieved during qualifying.
