Lewis Hamilton shares glum outlook after another disappointing Ferrari qualifying session

Lewis Hamilton said that he didn't expect to make progress through the field in the Sprint, as the top 3 cars were just faster than Ferrari. The sprint qualifying session was another disappointing one for the Italian team. Hamilton and Leclerc dragged whatever the car could deliver, but ultimately, they couldn't break the stranglehold at the front.

Unlike the last few qualifying sessions this season, Hamilton was much closer to the pace of his teammate Charles Leclerc. By the end of the session, the push laps of both drivers weren't separated by much, only a couple of tenths.

The downside, however, was that neither of the duo could get close to qualifying near the front. Lewis Hamilton will start the race in P7, while Charles Leclerc will be just ahead in P6. Reflecting on the session, the 7x F1 world champion admitted that the car was just lacking speed compared to rivals. He told Sky Sports:

"It was a better session. P1 was probably a bit better, the car was a bit better, the car was a bit nicer to drive. We are just lacking speed but we just keep working from there."

To add to the already downbeat nature of qualifying, Lewis Hamilton didn't think that the sprint race was going to be much different, as the cars ahead were just faster than them at this stage. He said:

"Not really. I think all the cars ahead are faster. I don't know what else to say."

Hamilton did acknowledge that there was a scope of incremental gains, as he said:

"There's always ideas. Whether or not they will be right or not.. there's definitely learnings to be taken - set-up changes, how the car behaved, there's definitely work to do to pick up speed going into the rest of the weekend."

Lewis Hamilton's teammate echoes the Ferrari driver's sentiments

Lewis Hamilton's teammate, Charles Leclerc, was even more disappointed, as the driver didn't expect much more from the Ferrari package around Miami. Talking about how the lap was good but the pace was just not there, the driver said:

"Bad. The lap was good. But the pace is just not at all there for now, so it’s a bit annoying but it’s the way it is for now. I’ll try my best tomorrow to try to do something special with the start, but to be honest, there’s not much room for improvement today. It was just… that’s the pace of the car."

He added:

"It’s every corner, really, so it’s not like we are particularly weak in one type of corner. Yes, the slow speed seems to be a little bit more of our weakness, but it changes from one weekend to the other, so it’s just not great."

Ferrari picked up its first podium of the season in Jeddah last time. How the car behaves in the race trim is still uncharted territory.