“The whole session was pretty disastrous”: Lewis Hamilton reviews an underwhelming Sprint Qualifying in Austria

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claimed that the sprint qualifying session for the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday was pretty disastrous for him as he finished in P6. The seven-time world champion was looking comfortable heading into the session as he looked competitive in the only practice session at the Red Bull Ring.

But he never looked to have the grasp of the W15 heading into the Sprint Qualifying as he narrowly avoided going out in the SQ1. The SQ2 was a bit better in terms of performance for him but he once again fell back in the SQ3.

Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to set the lap time in the final qualifying session and lost out on all the track evolution and also had a moment in his first sector. Speaking with Sky Sports, the Mercedes driver said:

"I wasn't in the mix at all, the whole session was pretty disastrous from our point. Practice was good, the car felt good, and I don't think we had the pace to be on the pole, but very bad laps."

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Lewis Hamilton previews the Sprint race on Saturday

Lewis Hamilton stated that he wasn't really looking forward to the sprint race, as he claimed that it is never an eventful one, while also pointing out the difficulty in overtaking at the Red Bull Ring.

He said:

"I don't think overtaking is mega here, but we'll give our best. It's usually not such an eventful race, so I think the focus will be mostly on getting a better qualifying tomorrow."

Hamilton's Mercedes teammate George Russell was more optimistic about the Sprint and clearly stated his intentions for the race. He said:

"P4 is still a great place to be for the fight tomorrow. Definitely fighting for the podium in the Sprint. Obviously, eyes on the main race are the most important thing."

"But, validation again that we are in the mix now. Probably a bit ahead of Ferrari at the moment but McLaren are still a small smidge ahead but it's nice to be at the front end a bit more consistently," he added.

There is still an unknown about the weather for the sprint race as the rain was predicted ahead of the weekend on both Saturday and Sunday.

In the two previous Sprints, Lewis Hamilton has had a mixed bag as he finished P2 in China while languishing in P16 in the Miami Sprint.