Lewis Hamilton silences interviewer with 'not very good’ confession ahead of Italian GP
Lewis Hamilton was extremely frustrated ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton was in a self-deprecating mood during his interview with Lawrence Barretto after qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday. The seven-time world champion labelled himself ‘not very good’ at qualifying in a wild statement.
Hamilton, who with 104 has the most pole positions in F1 history, could only manage a sixth-place qualifying finish, three places behind Mercedes team-mate George Russell. As has been the case so many times this season, the Brit looked strong during the early phases of the session, but couldn’t put together a strong lap when it counted.
In his interview with F1 TV after qualifying, Hamilton was asked why he couldn’t fight the McLaren drivers for pole position. He replied solemnly: “Yeah… because I’m not very good. Simple as. Simple as that. I’m just not very good at qualifying.”
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Barretto was stunned by the Mercedes star’s blunt response and probed further. “But you haven’t just suddenly got bad…” he continued before Hamilton cut in: “No I clearly have. I can’t put a lap together and it is unbelievably frustrating, but I’ll keep working at it and that’s all I can do.”
Hamilton’s qualifying concerns are founded in truth though. The seven-time world champion has only qualified ahead of Russell four times in 16 Grands Prix in 2024, and while his race pace is usually superior to that of his fellow Brit, poor starting positions have often left him with too much to do on Sundays.
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This was the case in Zandvoort last weekend when Hamilton failed to make it out of Q2 before the stewards slapped him with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Sergio Perez, dropping him to 14th on the grid. He recovered well to finish in eighth place, but this was the maximum on offer thanks to his poor qualifying.
On Saturday, frustrations boiled over for Hamilton. He was convinced that a first pole position of the season was on the cards. "I am furious, absolutely furious.” he told Sky Sports F1. “I could have been on pole, at least on the front row. I just didn't do the job at the end.
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"I lost a tenth and a half through Turns One and Two, and then a tenth in the last corner. No one to blame but myself. Qualifying has been my weakness for a minute now and I can't figure it out.
"I will be kicking myself for the next couple of hours but I need to move forward. We have a good race car, the team have done an amazing job this weekend, they really have. The car felt better than last race and the team deserve better. Maybe they will get that with Kimi [Antonelli]."
