“I don’t get it” says a confused Lewis Hamilton after another qualifying defeat to team mate George Russell. Hamilton who is by far the man with the most pole positions in Formula One ever, who was once considered the greatest qualifying ace, but these days Lewis Hamilton is regularly being tested by his team-mate George Russell on Saturdays.

“I don’t expect to beat George in qualifying again this year,” says Hamilton, “definitely frustrated” by seventh place and his weakness on Saturday: the score after Monaco in the qualifying duel with his team-mate is 1:7.

“I don’t understand it, but I know in advance that I automatically lose two tenths when we go into qualifying,” explained Hamilton: “I really have no explanation for it at the moment, I’m not driving any differently and the laps are really good. I have no idea”.

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Hamilton danger of losing 10 year record

The aforementioned misery also means that Hamilton is in danger of losing a qualifying duel for the whole season for the first time since 2014 – ten years ago he was beaten in this discipline by his then Silver Arrow teammate Nico Rosberg.

This doesn’t help Hamilton at the moment, according to the seven-time world champion, Mercedes have added a small update to the one from Imola for Monaco: “But we only had one and George has it. That’s why I thought it would be difficult to beat him in qualifying because he has the new part.”

Hamilton points out: “There is a slight difference between the two cars. George has the revised front wing and that makes a difference, especially in the fast sections.”

However, what may sound like a preference for the driver who stays with the team, rather than moving to Ferrari like Hamilton in 2025, has an entirely different background.

By saying this in the context of a poor qualifying against his team-mate, the British driver alludes to Mercedes favouring the retained driver in George Russell. But not all is what it seems…

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The truth behind Hamilton’s poor qualifying

According to Motorsport.com, Hamilton is said to have voluntarily decided not to use the new front wing before Monaco. 

On the one hand, because the British driver wanted to have as familiar and stable a base as possible for the tricky street circuit in the canyons of the Mediterranean, and on the other hand, because he did not want to be left without sufficient spare parts in the event of an accident, which is always a possibility in Monaco.

This tactic appears to have somewhat backfired for Lewis Hamilton.

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Wolff: “A step forward”

However, Hamilton says it is great that his team is bringing so many updates at all: “I also think that for some reason we are a lot closer this weekend,” explains the British driver: “It’s great to see, of course, and the car feels a lot better.”

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff agrees with his former protégé: “I think our feel is generally good, over the kerbs, as you can see here. But I also think we have made a step forward,” says the Austrian, although he warns: “Of course there can be setbacks, but at the moment we are going in the right direction and we just have to keep going.”

Speaking to Sky after qualifying, Wolff was reluctant to say whether the significantly warmer temperatures in Monaco had helped Mercedes: “I don’t know. It’s so tricky here in Monaco, we started analysing the corners and where the shadow falls. Turn one was partly shaded and also at the top of the corner. The tyre is immediately three or four degrees colder than before and getting it right is a science in itself,” said the Viennese.

The problem for Sunday, according to the Silver Arrows boss, is this: “I think we need rain to see overtaking manoeuvres here. We have seen that in Formula 2 before, nobody overtakes unless someone flies off. Overtaking, undertaking hasn’t worked here either. So maybe we’ll be driving in circles tomorrow.”

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Russell hopes for “some kind of turning point”

George Russell is not as pessimistic about Saturday, perhaps because of his good fifth place on the grid: “That was a good result today. It’s only two hundredths of a second to third place. Of course it’s frustrating when the gaps are so small, but the important thing is that we’re making progress.”

The British driver and team mate of Hamilton praised: “The team worked hard to get new parts here earlier than expected and I really appreciate that because the car felt great.”

Russell even goes as far as to hope for “some kind of turning point” thanks to the performance, “because our car has never been super strong here.”

Team-mate Hamilton, however, feels that such expectations go too far: “The car is much better than in previous years. But three-and-a-half tenths is still a lot here and that’s still six tenths elsewhere. So we’re still behind in terms of pace and we need to keep pushing,” Hamilton believes, adding: “‘We’ll get closer as the year goes on, as more upgrades come in.”

These will eventually find their way into Hamilton’s car…

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MORE F1 NEWS: Jos Verstappen marches back in to the Red Bull garage

The father of the current Formula One champion, Jos Verstappen, is once again making waves as he was pictured arriving in Monaco late yesterday. The journeyman F1 driver is the second most successful Dutch competitor the sport has seen, only outranked by his son. Jos competed in 107 Grand Prix, achieved two podiums as his best results, and racked up a total of 17 championship points (117 in the modern system) with a highest finishing slot of 6th at the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix.

Jos is the second most successful Dutch driver in F1, out ranked only by his son, but his biggest claim to fame came at the 1994 German Grand Prix when during a pit stop a refuelling rig fault caused a leak with the result his car was engulfed in flames for several seconds. As is the case with F1 drivers, Jos had opened his visor for some…READ MORE ON THIS STORY