Lewis Hamilton described getting performance from Ferrari’s car as “a fight like you couldn’t believe”, while team-mate Charles Leclerc called it an “unbelievably difficult” weekend after a chastening Saturday at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Hamilton made the remarks after the 19-lap Sprint, having started from the pit lane following set-up changes after initially qualifying 18th. He finished 17th, one place higher, and told the team on the radio: “I don’t know how we made the car worse.” Leclerc, who began in the top 10, also struggled despite keeping the set-up he had qualified with, picking up several off-track moments on his way to 13th.
Further set-up adjustments failed to help in main qualifying. Hamilton again qualified 18th, while Leclerc reached the top-10 shootout but ended up slowest in Q3 after a high-speed spin at Turn 15 on his first effort.
Explaining the Sprint difficulties to Sky Sports F1, Hamilton said the car lacked stability. “The rear end is not planted, so it’s sliding, snapping a lot,” he said. “Then we have bouncing, so when you’re going into corners like Turn 10, the thing starts bouncing, we have a lot of mid-corner understeer, and then you apply the steering and then it snaps and you try to catch it. It’s different between low, medium and high (speed), and it’s a fight like you couldn’t believe.”
After qualifying, Leclerc listed multiple problems: “There’s mid-corner understeer, there’s oversteer on entry and exit. It’s been an unbelievably difficult race weekend just to drive and keep the car on track. It’s frustrating to see that even maximum risk, a good lap is still bringing us P10 and nothing better.”
Despite Hamilton saying the car felt more compliant at the start of the later qualifying session after their latest changes, the final lap did not deliver, and Ferrari cited traffic as a factor in their official statement. Hamilton noted that, although the car felt better than earlier in the weekend, “we just didn’t get the last lap.” He has now failed to reach the top 10 in the last three qualifying sessions in either format, last making the top 10 at the Mexico City Grand Prix on October 25.
Leclerc agreed with Hamilton’s assessment: “The car feels quite ok, it doesn’t feel that much off the pace, but when you look at the timings we are very, very, very far. It’s just the performance of the car at the moment, we are not where we want to be. I changed quite a bit on the car since yesterday but I couldn’t extract any more.”
Ferrari’s failure to score points in the Sprint has increased the likelihood that the four-time Constructors’ champions will finish fourth in this year’s standings. Mercedes, with George Russell third on the grid and Kimi Antonelli fourth, can secure second place on Sunday with a round to spare if they outscore Red Bull by four points and are not outscored by Ferrari by 21 points or more. Red Bull, third in the table, have opened a 22-point lead over Ferrari.
Sky Sports F1 coverage schedule for the weekend included qualifying build-up and the Qatar GP qualifying on Saturday evening, followed by Formula 2, Grand Prix build-up and the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday, with post-race reaction and analysis programmes.