In a surprising turn of events, Lewis Hamilton, the record-breaking Formula 1 driver with 104 pole positions, found himself stuck in Q1 and will begin his 336th Formula 1 race from the 18th position on the starting grid. On the other hand, George Russell managed to make it to Q3 but fell short by 0.773s compared to Max Verstappen’s pole-winning time in the Red Bull.
The timing sheets revealed that Mercedes customers, including Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri from McLaren, as well as Fernando Alonso from Aston Martin, will start ahead of Russell. Meanwhile, Hamilton was only slower than Logan Sargeant, who belongs to the Mercedes-powered team.
Following the session in Shanghai, where he was half a second slower than Russell in the initial part of Qualifying, Hamilton took responsibility for his performance, admitting, “It was my mistake. I’m struggling to control the car at Turn 14. It keeps locking up, and I needed one more lap.”
Despite finishing in second place during the Sprint Race earlier in the day, Hamilton explained why he couldn’t replicate that pace in the Grand Prix Qualifying. “The car is significantly different; we made a lot of changes. But I’m hopeful that tomorrow will be better. I actually hope it rains because I need the rain and I’ll do a rain dance if necessary.”
Later, in the Mercedes report on Qualifying, Hamilton summed up his first Sprint Race weekend of the season, saying, “Being on the front row for the Sprint Race was an amazing feeling. Going into turn one and taking the lead reminded me of why I love this sport so much! It was a challenging race, but finishing second was great.”
He acknowledged that Qualifying would be much tougher in the afternoon and mentioned making significant setup changes after the Sprint Race to improve the car’s performance in slow-speed turns. While he felt the car was decent in some corners, he struggled in others.
Hamilton found it difficult to get the rear tires to stop at turn 14, which caused him to lock up on his final lap. He believed that if it hadn’t been for that mistake, he would have made it to Q2. Despite starting from the 18th position, Hamilton remained optimistic, stating, “I’ll give it my best shot tomorrow. Even if we’re starting from P18, we can still have some fun.”
Russell also shared his thoughts on the session, saying, “Qualifying was tricky. My first lap in Q2 was looking very strong, but the red flag forced us to abort. We had to use another set of new tires to progress to Q3. Without that, we would have had two new sets for the final part of Qualifying, and the outcome could have been different, but who knows.”
“We find ourselves in a fierce battle for positions between third and eighth place, but unfortunately, we have been consistently at the lower end of that battle in recent races during the qualifying sessions. Even small differences can have a significant impact on our performance.”
“With the cars around us, there is still a chance to make progress and move forward,” Russell expressed optimistically. It is worth noting that Russell has only competed at this venue once before in 2019, finishing in 16th place for Williams. On that day, Hamilton emerged victorious for the Silver Arrows.
One of the ongoing issues faced by the Mercedes team in recent seasons is their lack of understanding regarding their own package. Every race weekend brings uncertainty as they are unsure of the car’s performance upon leaving the garage. Furthermore, their attempts to improve the car often result in setbacks during practice and qualifying sessions.
Toto Wolff, the team principal of Mercedes, indirectly acknowledged this problem in the post-qualifying review in Shanghai. He stated, “In an effort to enhance the car’s low-speed performance, we made significant setup changes between the sprint and qualifying sessions. The drivers took different approaches to support our learning process, but unfortunately, it did not yield positive results for us in a single lap.”
Wolff continued, “Lewis would have comfortably advanced out of Q1 if not for a lock-up in Turn 14, which cost him more than half a second. George, on the other hand, solidly made it to Q3 but had only one set of new tires available. He set his fastest lap of the session, but similar to the situation in Suzuka two weeks ago, he found himself at the back of a closely contested group where a few tenths of a second equate to several grid positions.”
Concluding his remarks, Wolff emphasized the need to shift the team’s focus towards the race and make a strong recovery while moving forward with both cars. So far this season, their best result in the first four Grand Prix events has been fifth place. Considering their current performance, it is difficult to envision a better outcome at the upcoming 18th Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.
Mercedes’ trackside boss, Andrew Shovlin, hinted at their strategy in his summary, saying, “We are currently positioned at the back of a tightly packed group, and small improvements can quickly alter the situation. However, at present, we are not fast enough. We will conduct our usual simulations tonight to determine the best course of action for the race. It is likely that we will have to explore alternative strategies compared to our competitors.”