Lewis Hamilton will start the Australian Grand Prix in 11th place after a qualifying session to forget in Melbourne, leaving Mercedes boss Toto Wolff frustrated again
Lewis Hamilton bemoaned his inconsistent Mercedes car and the wind which unsettled it and led to an awful Australian Grand Prix qualifying result.
Hamilton failed to reach Q3 in Melbourne and will start Sunday’s race 11th on the grid. And he was baffled by his own inability to extract performance from his car after faring well in practice earlier in the day.
He said: “It felt great in FP3 and it was strange because we were right there with those guys and we didn’t really understand why. But then in qualifying… the inconsistency in the car really messes with the mind.
George [Russell] did a good job today. It is what it is – I have to try to do a better job tomorrow.” Russell did manage to reach the final part of qualifying and put his own Mercedes seventh on the grid, outqualifying Hamilton for the fourth consecutive time
Asked what the problems are with his W15, Hamilton replied: “There’s a long list. I think our car is on a bit of a knife edge. In the afternoon the wind picks up here, the same as [it did in] FP2. When the wind picks up the car becomes a lot more unstable.
“This morning was nice with the calmer wind, but ever since the wind picked up it got more unstable. The others seemed to pick up the pace in qualifying, I’m not sure why. But it didn’t feel the same in qualifying even though we had lighter fuel than FP3. It’s not a great feeling for anyone in the team, but we’ll keep working away.”
Team principal Toto Wolff agreed that Mercedes’ cars are still very difficult to set up properly. But he made sure to put across his frustration at his drivers’ results.
He mentioned that it was disappointing because they were so close in FP3. Despite the slightly different conditions, he believed there was no justification for their performance.
He emphasized that their car was challenging to handle and being within a narrow margin could make a big difference.
I have been frustrated with myself for saying this repeatedly, but we must persist in our efforts. It is not due to a lack of effort, but our current situation is unacceptable.
In the short run, closing the gap with Red Bull may seem like an illusion, but I remain optimistic that there is untapped potential in our car.
The car performed decently this morning, but achieving consistent performance is challenging and requires ongoing efforts to improve.