Downbeat Lewis Hamilton braced for ‘challenge to get into Q3’
Lewis Hamilton admits it could be a struggle to reach Q3 in Montreal.
Lewis Hamilton says it will be a "challenge" to get into Q3 at the F1 Canadian Grand Prix based on the current performance of his Ferrari.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton was fifth-fastest in FP1 before sliding to eighth in FP2 and admitted he was not feeling "particularly great" after making changes to his Ferrari which sent him backwards.
Hamilton holds an exemplary record at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with the most pole positions and victories but he is bracing for a difficult qualifying.
“Not great, not particularly great,” Hamilton summed up. “I love driving here and the crowd’s been amazing today, but the car is a lot different to what I’ve experienced here in the past.
“I think P1 was alright, then we made some changes. Honestly, I thought the car was quicker, and we just went slower, or they [our rivals] went quicker.”
Last year, Hamilton suffered his worst qualifying result in Montreal with seventh on the grid in his final season with Mercedes. Prior to that, Hamilton had never qualified outside of the top five.
Speaking about his chances heading into qualifying on Saturday, the 40-year-old Briton admitted: “I don’t know [what’s possible].
"I think it will be a challenge to get into Q3 at this rate, but not impossible. Then I think trying to fight to get into the top five is going to be tough.”
Canada a 'critical' weekend for Hamilton
According to Sky Sports F1's Karun Chandhok, Hamilton is facing a "critical" weekend.
"It's starting to get a bit critical. We're coming into the second third of the season now, and he's not finding the rhythm. He's not finding consistency where week in, week out, he's in a happy place of the car," Chandhok told the F1 Show.
"In Imola, he was woeful in qualifying, then suddenly the car's brilliant in the race. In Monaco, he wasn't quite there. He was a chunk behind Charles throughout.
"There's got to be a degree of concern creeping in. When you look at Spain, the fact that Charles overtook him and drove away from him quite comfortably, even before we go into the different tyres and stuff later on."
Chandhok went on to add: "If I was on the Lewis side of the garage, I would be concerned. We are nearly at halfway through the year now, we need to start understanding whether this a fundamental issue, that we need to change the direction of the set-up of the car.
"I'm not disputing that he's still got the ability. He clearly does. He's able to win races, we saw that in China, but they need to find a sweet spot for him, where every weekend he knows what he's got, and they haven't got that.
"He's still having too many good days and bad days. The fluctuations are too much."
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Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
