“For me it’s an excuse,” says former Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg after the qualifying debacle for Lewis Hamilton. Rosberg takes on Hamilton in the press slamming the performance but also hinting as to why it might be that the ex F1 champ might be struggling even more in the once giant works team of Formula 1.
Lewis Hamilton vacillates between extremes in China. At the top, however, it is business as usual (again): Max Verstappen dominates the sprint race and qualifying.
Difficult quali for Hamilton
For Lewis Hamilton, the exhilaration was short-lived, and then came the freefall.
“I had forgotten what it felt like to be at the front. For the short time I had that feeling, it was great,” said the record Formula One world champion after finishing second in the sprint race in Shanghai. Less than four hours later, the British driver made an avoidable mistake in qualifying in turn 14.
Only 18th on the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix, a huge setback.
“It’s a tough day for him,” said Hamilton’s former team-mate Nico Rosberg on the Sky microphone.
“He was on a great lap,” said the 2016 champion. From Hamilton’s point of view, it is now 1-4 in the qualifying duel with Mercedes team-mate George Russell, also because of his confirmed move to Ferrari, his former rival is going through a “difficult phase”, explained Rosberg.
Hamilton, who has more victories (103) and pole positions (104) than any other driver in F1 history, has been waiting since 5 December 2021 to step onto the top step of the podium. He led the sprint race for at least nine laps. “I was grateful for the moment,” he said almost modestly.
For Max Verstappen, things went much more smoothly. The Dutchman relegated his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and Spaniard Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin in qualifying. It was the 37th pole position of Verstappen’s career and the fifth on the fifth race weekend of the season. It also marked the 100th time his team has started a Grand Prix from the front of the grid.
Verstappen still waiting for first win in China
He had won the sprint earlier in the race and was 13 seconds ahead of Hamilton after 19 laps. Perez finished third, meaning Verstappen leads the Drivers’ Championship by 15 points from his team-mate. And on Sunday, he will almost certainly finally clinch his first Grand Prix victory in China.
Of the 24 tracks on this year’s calendar, only here and in Singapore are still empty on his palmares.
“I’m very happy, the car was wonderful to drive,” said Verstappen: “The conditions were very good, it was fun.”
On Friday we had “a lot of problems. Then we made small changes, but they were effective. We did everything right,” said Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko on Sky. Verstappen had struggled in the wet on the previous day, finishing fourth in sprint qualifying. In the dry, the 26-year-old was once again clearly setting the pace.
Nico Hulkenberg was also in good spirits at the end of the day. The Haas driver will start Sunday’s race from a respectable ninth place. In the sprint race the man from Emmerich in Germany only managed 19th place.
The car was literally “upside down” compared to Friday and the team took the right measures after the sprint.
Rosberg slams Hamilton: “…just an excuse”
Lewis Hamilton’s qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday ended in debacle. Former team-mate Nico Rosberg says it is too easy for the seven-time world champion to blame the car after his Q1 exit.
“Lewis is 1:4 down in qualifying this season in the battle with George [Russell]. And every time he says it’s the set-up. For me it’s an excuse,” the 38-year-old told Sky.
Hamilton made a serious mistake in the hairpin on his final fast lap. The British driver missed his braking point and shot past the apex of the hairpin. As a result, Hamilton finished 18th in the first qualifying session and was eliminated.
Afterwards, the 39-year-old complained about the tailwind in the critical section saying: “With the balance of the Silver Arrow you are always on a knife edge,” complained the veteran.
Has Hamilton lost the support of Mercedes?
“We made massive changes before qualifying,” revealed Hamilton. “It didn’t feel terrible, but I just couldn’t slow the car down in turn 14,” he complained.
Rosberg, meanwhile, blamed his Mercedes driver for the qualifying debacle.
“Lewis had a great lap, on a par with George. For me, it’s clearly his mistake. One that shouldn’t happen to a seven-time world champion. You know the wind comes from behind in turn 14 and then it’s so late that it’s hard to brake,” he said.
However, the 2016 world champion also showed some sympathy. Hamilton has clearly lost the support of his team since the announcement of his move to Ferrari.
“Lewis is going through a difficult time. Also because he’s already with another team. Internally you’re only halfway there. It’s quite possible that he doesn’t get all the data anymore,” Rosberg rumoured.
McLaren ready to “battle” with F1 stewards
Wolff and Hamilton cracks showing?
The relationship between Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton has been strong over the years, yet following Lewis’ bombshell news it seems to be showing signs of cracks.
Explaining how he’d reacted to Hamilton telling him he was leaving for Ferrari, Toto admitted: “The timing hit us a bit,” and that he would discussing this with Hamilton particularly in light of Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc having signed new deals in the days preceding Hamilton’s big news.
“A few contracts have been signed a few weeks ago that we would have looked at, that would have been interesting,” noted Wolff.
Last time out in Japan, a frustrated Lewis Hamilton criticised the Mercedes strategy which saw him trail home in P9 for just a couple of points. “The hard tyre was pretty bad as I said,” claimed Lewis. “The medium tyre was much better – so for sure in hindsight it looks as though we should have had two [sets of] medium tyres.”
Mercedes had retained two sets of new hard tyres for their drivers in Suzuka, while Ferrari and others had opted for the medium compound as their preferred race tyre. With hindsight Lewis believed this to be the wrong decision.
Sergio Perez reveals his F1 future
Wolff blames drivers for poor 1st stint
However, Toto completely contradicted his once star driver claiming the Mercedes car had enough pace to make a podium during the Japanese race. Further, he suggested it may have been driver error contributing to an “atrocious first stint.”
“We had a second and third stint that was super quick and we would’ve been racing for a podium but [for] an atrocious first stint,” Wolff told Sky F1. “We need to find out what it was, was it too hot, were we over managing?”
Mercedes arrived in China with minimal expectations and in free practice one could only manage P17 and P18 in practice. Yet Lewis Hamilton admitted his excitement levels were high due to the rain in the sprint qualifying, which proved true with an impressive second place in the final sprint race.
It is clear that the Austrian team boss isn’t holding back with criticism when performances are sub-par on a track that is proving to be a good one for the inconsistent W15 Mercedes car.
READ MORE: Aston Martin protest Ferrari China qualifying to F1 stewards
The seat. The setup. The tyres. The strategy. The wind. The car… the list goes on and on. But never, ever, is it Lewis…
Nico can say what he likes. But we all know. He only beat Hamilton to a championship because of 1 dnf. Nico needs to disappear into void because desperately trying to stay relevant by jumping on every ‘LEWIS SHOULD RETIRE’ bandwagon is rather sad and tragic.
Nico rosberg bad mouthing Lewis wow that is a first. Oh wait, no it’s what he does all the time. He was raving about how good is when he got second interview he sprint.