Lewis Hamilton was left frustrated after another F1 setback as the Mercedes driver finished sixth in qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix.
The Briton failed to hide his emotions after Q3, which included a costly spin on the penultimate corner, ensuring teammate George Russell has now bettered him in qualifying 15 times out of 20.
And Hamilton, who will join Ferrari for the 2025 season, cut a dejected figure following what he described as a “drastic” regression in performance over the course of practice and qualifying.
“I’m losing all the time, that’s why I’ve been so bad in qualifying all year, it’s a normal thing, I’m used to it,” Hamilton told Sky Sports.
“It doesn’t feel like it [gives me potential], we’ve done everything, we’ve worked so hard in the background, like everybody does, to get the car in a nice place, it was feeling good in P3, let’s not touch anything, all we changed was just the rear wing.
“It’s a drastic difference, every time I get to qualifying the car is completely different, I can’t pinpoint why, it is what it is, I hope I can strike a balance tomorrow. There’s so much to play for tomorrow, I’ll try and do a good job.”
Carlos Sainz secured pole position in Mexico City, with Max Verstappen edging out title rival Lando Norris to join the Spaniard on the front row.
And the McLaren driver maintained he was happy with his performance with his hopes resting on superior race pace to cut the gap to the Red Bull star in the title race.
Norris said: “I am happy with third. Carlos and Max did good laps.
“There are question marks (over race pace) for all of us. Ferrari have been very strong in race pace over the last couple of races. It is going to be tough, but we are in a good position so looking forward to it.”
