Lewis Hamilton is a seven times Formula One world champion and became particularly known for his mastery of the single qualifying lap. Even today after three years of woe and a handful of starts on the front row the Mercedes driver has 104 pole positions from 355 starts.

Yet this part of Lewis armoury is now in decline as team mate George Russell has walloped him 18-5 this year in Grand Prix qualifying and 5-1 in the Sprint shootouts for pole. Other drivers with similar poor qualifying numbers when compared to their team mates are Lance Stroll (5-18), Oscar Piastri (3-20), Zhou Guanyu 3-20), Checo (1-22) and Logan Sargeant (0-12).

Hamilton was at his most despondent this weekend in Qatar when he appeared to have given up the Ghost after Grand Prix qualifying went west. With his team mate promoted to pole position after Max Verstappen was penalised with a one place grid drop, the best Hamilton could manage was P6 some half a second slower than George Russell.

 

 

 

Hamilton despondent in Qatar

“I can’t explain why I’m half a second behind my team-mate,” the seven-time world champion told Sky Sports F1 after qualifying on Saturday. “That’s never happened in my career, so I can’t explain that.

“What I can say is the car felt genuinely fine for me. There’s not really much more I can add. I’ve given it absolutely anything and the car feels good but it’s slow.”

An out of sorts Hamilton had said on Friday that he was “definitely not fast anymore”, and his capitulation to his team mate this season would appear to confirm this. Whether Lewis ever really got over the titanic struggle he lost with Max Verstappen in 2021 we can never know but the race for the title he lost in Abu Dhabi marked the beginning of Hamilton’s fall from the top of his game.

This was the start of a run of 56 race weekends where Lewis would fail to win a race until the fairy tale return this year at the British Grand Prix. His previous longest stint without a win since his rookie year in 2007 was a ten race spell when his McLaren car was less than competitive.

F1 race director changes the rules for Qatar

 

 

 

Lewis ends 56 race win drought this year

Following his Silverstone win this year and emotional Hamilton reflected on the climax to the 2021 F1 season. “Honestly, when I came back in 2022, I thought that I was over it. And I know I wasn’t and it’s taken a long time for sure to heal that kind of feeling.

“And that’s only natural for anyone that has that experience,” said Lewis. Yet his dramatic loss of form also coincided with the radical new FIA car design regulations which came into force in 2022 ushering in the era of ground effect F1 cars.

These new machines now create 50% of the downforce from under the floor of the car and in principle the reduced downwash from the rear now makes it easier for drivers to following each other closely, without suffering from the ‘dirty air.’

Yet this method of ‘glueing’ the car to the track creates a different feel for the pilot as the centre of pressure travels much more quickly from the front to the back of the chassis – and vice versa. This accentuates Hamilton’s feel of instability in the car and was primarily the reason he spent 2023 complaining the driving position of his W14 was too far forward.

Hamilton admits time has taken its toll

 

 

 

Russell promoted to pole

For years Lewis had the best car in the field and his job was merely to beat his team mate, which he did with the expiation of Rosberg in 2016. Now Lewis is being dominated by Russell and admits the winter break can’t come soon enough so he can “move forward.”

Toto Wolff eyeing the departure of his once superstar commented on how the Mercedes was performing at the Lusail circuit. ”Overall, we are happy with the results we have seen today as a Team. The car seems to function well in these conditions as we can run the car low and stiff on a smooth track which ultimately suits the characteristics of our car and George seems to like the way it drives.

“We’ve seen this over the last couple of qualifying sessions and races. George was performing well in Q3 but was just lacking half a tenth to secure pole against Max.”

Of course since then Russell has been promoted to pole position following him being adjudged to have impeded the Mercedes driver on a cool down lap during qualifying three. Lewis Hamilton of course claimed the first ever pole at the circuit in Qatar back in 2021 but since then has struggled with his one lap pacer.

Schumacher goes after Perez

 

 

 

Wolff explains Hamilton woes

Toto Wolff goes on to explain that the current generation F1 cars does not suit Hamilton’s driving style, especially on corner entries. “For Lewis this generation of cars aren’t always suiting his driving style, he likes to be aggressive on corner entries and unfortunately this car at the moment can’t quite take it, especially on qualifying laps when it’s right on the edge.

“Lewis in the race, however, usually manages to turn it around like last week where he was overtaking car after car and coming through the pack. We’ll see what tomorrow brings and hopefully we can deliver another good result with both cars for the Team.”

Given all the drivers who raced in F1 prior to 2022 will also have been forced to adapt their driving styles, there does remain the question as to whether Hamilton really deserves his often allocated status of GOAT. He won his titles in an era when he was in the best car each year something Max Verstappen did not have the luxury of for most of this season.

Verstappen crazy penalty

 

 

 

Will Ferrari move improve Hamilton’s performance?

If Wolff is correct then Lewis’ dream move to Ferrari may not turn out well. Whilst the design of the SF-24 is different from the Mercedes, the basic aerodynamics principles will be the same in Maranello as they currently are in Brackley.

Four times world champion Sebastian Vettel was also a man for his time, as the Newey cars before 2014 were all counter intuitive to driver. When Vettel left Red Bull for Ferrari, he was never the same driver again.

Fans and pundits alike will await the start of the 2025 F1 season with anticipation to see if Hamilton can complete with his new team mate Charles Leclerc, or if his career is in terminal decline.

The story behind Piastri Sprint victory

 

 

 

Aston Martin explain sacking of Newey protege

What looked like it was to be a dream team reunion in Silverstone ended even before Adrian Newey arrives to take up his position as managing partner of the Formula One technical team. Dan Fallows has been removed from his role as technical director despite the close working relationship he had with Newey in his time at Red Bull.

Fallows began his F1 career in 2002 as a senior aerodynamicist in Milton Keynes, when the team was owned by Ford and called Jaguar Racing. However, when Ford announced they were pulling out of the ruins that was their F1 team, Dan moved to Italian chassis builder Dallara. 

Red Bull acquired the team for the 2005 F1 season and immediately poached an unhappy Adrian Newey from Mclaren. Both he and Fallows joined the team for the 2006 season with Dan taking on the role of team leader in the aerodynamics department… READ MORE