At 39, with 18 seasons, 105 race wins, and seven championships under his belt, Lewis Hamilton may not feel the need to change his ways. Although, the Briton knows that something has been wrong with his qualifying performances in the last two seasons. When asked to elaborate on the same, he introspected and commented about his stubbornness.
Hamilton was adamant about the shortcomings of the W13 and the flawed zero pod design in 2022. So, after ignoring the Briton for over a year, the Brackley outfit gave in and changed the flawed design this season. Finally, Mercedes is enjoying a purple patch of form with three wins in four races. Although, this hasn’t translated to Hamilton’s qualifying results.
He said, “I’m stubborn, I keep trying to drive the way I want to drive. But then I realize it doesn’t always work and then I try to massage my way through. But it’s not worked that well. Still to this point, I think ultimately as a driver, you have to be adaptive and you have to concede that sometimes your approaches to certain things aren’t perfect.”
Sir Lewis Hamilton on his qualifying this year : “wouldn’t say its a disaster” ‼️
“I’m stubborn, I keep trying to drive the way I want to drive. But then I realise it doesn’t always work and then I try to massage my way through. But it’s not worked that well.”
“Still to this… pic.twitter.com/GpiAIam8lO
— sim (@sim3744) August 15, 2024
Hamilton is trailing his teammate George Russell in the qualifying head-to-head by 4-10. Russell is also a superb qualifier and has managed to edge out his seven-time champion teammate regularly.
However, despite the poor results in qualifying, Hamilton’s been exceptional during races. So, over the summer break, he can perhaps shift his focus on his qualifying and maximize his results. And given he is heading to Ferrari in 2025 to partner with Charles Leclerc — who is himself an ace qualifier — Hamilton needs to pull up his socks on one-lap pace.
