Lewis Hamilton breaks silence after Aston Martin surges ahead at Ferrari’s expense: “I feel super gutted, devastated”

Lewis Hamilton admitted to feeling "gutted" after a challenging qualifying session at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. In his first home race with Ferrari, the Briton fell short in Q2 after Aston Martin edged out the Scuderia pair.

Despite a promising start to the weekend with a fifth-place finish in FP1, Hamilton complained about persistent brake-related issues hampering his performance. The issue further worsened in the following sessions, where a lack of pace saw him slip towards the tail end of the top 10. By then, Hamilton admitted that he was in unfamiliar territory with a peculiar brake issue. His teammate Charles Leclerc echoed the sentiment over team radio.

As such, the Ferrari duo found themselves on the brink of elimination during Saturday's Q2. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll entered the fray with a gamble on used mediums, clocking a lap time quick enough for sixth. Hamilton was the first to fall out of contention, followed by Leclerc, when Fernando Alonso pipped his teammate for fifth.

Speaking to the media post-qualifying, Hamilton bemoaned a disastrous outing in front of home crowd.

“[It’s been a] tough one. Ultimately I feel super gutted, devastated, that we weren’t able to get through. I really feel like we have made so many positive steps through the weekend," he said via Formula1.com.

He added:

"The reason it’s devastating is just to see everyone who’s worked so hard in the garage, to be in Italy for the first Italian race for me in Ferrari and not to make it to Q3, it's definitely bittersweet.”

Imola marked Lewis Hamilton's second straight exit from Q2 with the Maranello-based outfit. In his previous outing at Miami, the 40-year-old lined up two spots shy of the top 10 but bounced back to finish eighth on the grid, one spot behind his teammate, Leclerc.

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Lewis Hamilton opens up about his chances for a recovery drive in Sunday's race

Lewis Hamilton tempered expectations for Sunday's race with a pragmatic view of the task ahead. He admitted that it'd be tough to chase the field, given the track's limited overtaking opportunities and the strong competition up front.

“It’s a very difficult track to overtake [on], so I think tomorrow it will be hard to progress. We’ll have to battle hard to be able to figure a way to progress forwards, but just getting to the top 10 and getting further up the top 10 is going to be tough. There are quick cars in front of us,” he said.

Lewis Hamilton's successor at Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli, lines up one spot behind the Briton for Sunday's race. Notably, the 63-lap event also marked the rookie prodigy's homecoming, where he looked to extend his seven-point lead over Hamilton in the Drivers' standings.

Meanwhile, McLaren's Oscar Piastri is poised to secure his fourth consecutive win with a pole position three hundredths of a second over the reigning champion, Max Verstappen.