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Lewis Hamilton blamed the experimental setup for his dismal showing in the qualifying rounds for the main race on Sunday at the Shanghai International Circuit, as he finished P18.
Hamilton headed into the all-important qualifying session on a high after finishing the Sprint race in P2 behind Max Verstappen and getting his first podium this year.
However, the Mercedes driver was unable to carry the momentum and fell short at the first hurdle and went out in Q1, as he qualified P18 behind the likes of Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen.
In his interview with Sky Sports, Lewis Hamilton spoke about the struggles he faced in the session and said:
"Struggled. I made massive changes into qualifying. It wasn’t too bad in some places. I couldn’t stop in Turn 14. It is what it is. This morning George [Russell] and I had very similar cars but this afternoon we’re trying to experiment still with the car so I went one way a long way and he went the other way just to see if we could find anything.
"That’s what we need to do at the moment but it didn’t work. I’ll give it my best shot…18th is pretty bad. When I was making the set-up changes I was like ‘It can’t get any worse, surely’ and it did. S*** happens."
Nico Rosberg chimes in on Lewis Hamilton's mistake in the qualifying session
Nico Rosberg stated that Lewis Hamilton's lockup after Turn 14 could have been avoided as the seven-time world champion didn't need to push the limit.
In his Sky Sports live broadcast, the 2016 world champion said:
“18th position, Lewis. You know that the wind is coming from the back. He’d had a great lap until then. It was really unnecessary to push the limit so much. For a seven-time world champion, that’s a mistake that should be avoidable.
“He had the brake balance too far forward. He lost at least four-tenths in that moment, which easily would have put him through. Easily. That is a disaster.”
Lewis Hamilton admitted that the lockup after the DRS straight was 'his mistake,' however, it cost a valuable opportunity for the German team to start the race from optimum positions.
The Mercedes driver would hope that he could dispatch the slower cars ahead of him quickly and get into the thick of points. It would be difficult for him to eye for a second podium on the weekend but with some good fortune, he could surely find himself in contention.
