Lewis Hamilton said he felt “anger and rage” after ending his first Formula 1 season with Ferrari by being knocked out of qualifying in the first session for the third consecutive time – fourth if sprint qualifying in Qatar last weekend is also included.
The seven-time champion will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from 16th on the grid, while his team-mate Charles Leclerc qualified fifth.
Hamilton was 0.231 seconds behind Leclerc in the first session.
If the 40-year-old does not finish in the top three in Sunday’s race, it will be his first F1 season without a podium.
“I don’t have the words to describe the feeling that I have inside, Hamilton said. “An unbearable amount of anger and rage. There’s not really much I can say about it.”
He is sixth in the drivers’ championship, 78 points behind Leclerc.
As has become typical as he has struggled through the second half of the season, Hamilton’s post-qualifying media engagements were marked by answers of the minimal number of words delivered in a voice so low as to be almost inaudible at times.
Asked whether he had an action plan to work on improvements, he said: “Not at the moment.”
And asked whether the short winter break – the first pre-season test of 2026 is on 26 January – was enough time to mentally reset, he said: “Time will tell. It’s the shortest break.”
When Sky Sports asked whether it was the case that he could not seem to find the skill he is known for, he nodded his head.
Before qualifying, Hamilton had crashed in final practice after losing the car into Turn Nine.
Ferrari refused to explain the incident before qualifying, but afterwards Hamilton said he had had some bouncing on the way into the corner.
“The car was feeling great, just had some bottoming and lost the back end,” he said.
By BBC News
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