Hamilton offers explanation for his qualifying woes in Qatar

Seven-time world champion Hamilton struggled for pace and was dumped out in SQ1 with a time good enough for only 18th on the grid for Saturday’s final sprint race of the season in Qatar.

Ferrari struggled in the only practice session at the Qatar Grand Prix, looking off the pace. Things hardly improved in the sprint qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton having failed to make it out of the first segment.

His team-mate Charles Leclerc did just about make the top 10, but he could not achieve anything better than a ninth place for Saturday’s 19-lap sprint.

Reflecting on his struggles in sprint qualifying, Hamilton was understandably in a downbeat mood as he conducted his post-session interview through gritted teeth.

“Tough day out there. We tried a couple of different set ups and it just didn’t work out for us, but we’ll dig into the data tonight and figure out how to come back fighting for a better day tomorrow."