Lewis Hamilton berated his performance in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday as “useless” and emphasised it with an entirely uncharacteristic act of self-flagellation, saying Ferrari needed to replace him. Hamilton was knocked out in 12th, while his Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc, went on to take pole position for Sunday’s race, the first the Scuderia has claimed this year.
Hamilton did not have an issue with his car on his final run in Q2 in Budapest nor was he impeded, he was simply not quick enough to go through, more than two-tenths down on Leclerc and took himself to task for his shortcoming. “It’s me every time. I’m useless, absolutely useless,” he said. “The team have no problem. You’ve seen the car’s on pole. So we probably need to change driver.”
He had signalled his own frustration immediately after completing the below-par lap, admonishing himself as he told his team: “Every time, every time.” When he climbed from the car he walked to the Ferrari motorhome holding his gloves in front of his visor.
His exasperation was doubtless compounded by what he called an “unacceptable” error in qualifying at the last round in Belgium, where he could manage only 16th on the grid. Moreover, the Hungaroring is a circuit where the 40-year-old has a record second to none, eight wins and nine poles. However, this is the fourth time Hamilton failed to make the top 10 in qualifying this season and has been beaten over the single lap by Leclerc in 10 of the 14 meetings and is 30 points behind him in the standings.
Expectations for the seven-time champion had been huge when he joined Ferrari this season after 12 years at Mercedes, but the transition has been difficult. Adapting to the new car and team is proving a challenge and although he took a win in the sprint race in China he has yet to make the podium this season, the longest period he has gone without making it into the top three.
The championship leader, Oscar Piastri, and his title rival Lando Norris had been expected to fight for pole, but the McLaren men had to settle for second and third respectively. Leclerc saw off Piastri by 0.026 seconds, with Norris 0.015secs behind the Australian. George Russell finished fourth for Mercedes.
Leclerc said: “I don’t understand anything in Formula One. Honestly, the whole qualifying was extremely difficult. It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3. In Q3, the conditions changed a little bit. Everything became a lot trickier and I knew I just had to do a clean lap to target third.
“It’s pole position. I definitely did not expect that. It’s probably one of the best pole positions I’ve ever had. It’s the most unexpected, for sure.”
