"Looking forward to going home" - Lewis Hamilton dejected after another qualifying defeat

Lewis Hamilton was not happy with his qualifying performance at the 2024 F1 Canadian GP. The seven-time world champion was once again out-qualified by his Mercedes teammate, George Russell.

Hamilton had decent practice sessions on Friday, finishing P4 and P7 in FP1 and FP2, respectively. On Saturday, he even topped the charts in the third and final practice session with a fastest lap of 1:12.549.

In qualifying, however, he experienced a dip in performance. The Mercedes star only managed to secure P7 while his teammate George Russell topped the timing sheets and narrowly beat reigning world champion Max Verstappen by +0.000 seconds. The only reason Russell took the pole position from Verstappen is that his fastest lap was clocked before the Red Bull star.

Speaking to Canal+, Lewis Hamilton talked about how poor his qualifying performance was and said that the Mercedes W15 was not the same when he arrived for qualifying.

“The whole qualifying was pretty poor from my side. The car was not the same when I got to qualifying.”

When pressed to speak his mind, he expressed his frustration and said that not a lot had been going through his mind. He concluded that he simply wanted to go home.

“Not too much [is going through his mind]. Looking forward to going home.”

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Lewis Hamilton spoke about the improved ride quality of the Mercedes W15

Going into the Canadian GP, Lewis Hamilton spoke about the Mercedes W15's recent improvements. The Silver Arrows introduced a major upgrade package aiming to improve W15's front suspension. Ever since the start of 2024, they have been trying to close the gap on other top teams like Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull.

Hamilton praised the team and discussed the improvements made during an FIA press conference prior to the Canadian GP. He noted that the decreased height due to the new suspension had improved the W15's overall ride quality. He also dove deep into how the car reacts in corners and where it still lacks performance.

“The biggest improvement coming into this year has been ride quality and being able to get the car lower, which has been what others have been able to do. And then, stability on entry of corners, the car is far more predictable than it ever was, particularly this year it’s a lot more stable so you can be a bit more committed into the corners.

But then through corner balance is where we’ve been lacking, where some of the others have taken big steps so that’s what we’re trying to work on.”

After last month's Monaco GP, Lewis Hamilton currently stands in eighth place with 42 points. His teammate, George Russell is in seventh place with 54 points.