The seven-time F1 champion, Hamilton, didn’t make it to the top 10 shootout in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. He missed out to his teammate George Russell by just 0.05 seconds. Hamilton felt the car showed some promise in the final practice, but the windy conditions during qualifying made it difficult to control.
He compared the car’s behavior to previous models, saying it felt unpredictable, similar to older versions. Hamilton said, “Every outing you learn something new. FP3 felt good for us, and I felt optimistic going into qualifying but then, I don’t know if it’s the wind picking up, the wind picked up quite a bit, same as yesterday, and then the car is just so much more on a knife edge.”
He mentioned that despite moments of promise, the car’s performance would suddenly drop off. Hamilton believes if they can make the car more consistent, they could be more competitive, but there’s a lot of work to be done.
In the past, Hamilton and Russell struggled to match each other’s performance during qualifying sessions. In 2022, Hamilton was experimenting with different setups to solve issues with the car. This time, they were using different setups again. Hamilton explained that he’s trying various setups to help the team find solutions. He believes they are closer in performance compared to before.
Hamilton and his team are working hard to improve the car’s consistency and competitiveness. They’re learning from each session and making adjustments to get the best out of the car.
