Lewis Hamilton said extracting performance from Ferrari’s car was “a fight like you couldn’t believe” after a chastening Saturday at the Qatar Grand Prix, while team‑mate Charles Leclerc described the weekend as “unbelievably difficult.”
Hamilton made the comments after the 19‑lap Sprint. He had started from the pit lane following set‑up changes made after initially qualifying 18th, finished 17th, and radioed to the team: “I don’t know how we made the car worse.” Leclerc, who began the Sprint from the top 10 and kept the set‑up he had qualified with, also struggled and collected several off‑track moments on his way to 13th.
Further set‑up tweaks did not produce the hoped‑for improvement for main qualifying. Hamilton again lined up 18th, while Leclerc advanced to the top‑10 shootout but ended Q3 slowest after a high‑speed spin at Turn 15 on his first flying lap.
Explaining the Sprint issues to Sky Sports F1, Hamilton pointed to a lack of stability: “The rear end is not planted, so it’s sliding, snapping a lot. 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.”
Leclerc catalogued the car’s contradictory behaviour after qualifying: “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.”
Ferrari acknowledged traffic as a factor in their official statement, but neither driver could produce the final lap they needed. Hamilton said the car felt more compliant at the start of the later qualifying session after the latest changes, but “we just didn’t get the last lap.” He has now missed the top 10 in the last three qualifying sessions in either format, his last top‑10 appearance coming at the Mexico City Grand Prix on October 25.
Leclerc echoed the sentiment that the car felt reasonably okay in isolation but lacked competitive pace: “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 Sprint points has increased the chance 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 have opened a 22‑point lead over Ferrari in the standings.
Sky Sports F1’s weekend coverage included qualifying build‑up and the Qatar GP qualifying session on Saturday evening, followed on Sunday by Formula 2, Grand Prix build‑up, the Qatar Grand Prix itself and post‑race reaction and analysis programmes.