‘i’m Absolutely Useless’: Lewis Hamilton Says Ferrari Should Replace Him After Qualifying 12th

Lewis Hamilton said he is “absolutely useless” and claimed Ferrari request to switch him aft he qualified 12th for nan Hungarian Grand Prix - arsenic team-mate Charles Leclerc took rod position.

Outside of a sprint triumph astatine nan 2nd information successful China, Hamilton’s move from Mercedes to Ferrari has grounded to unrecorded up to its blockbuster billing and his debut play successful reddish took different sorry twist erstwhile he was knocked retired of Q2 astatine nan Hungaroring.

The 40-year-old has a grounds 8 wins and 9 rod positions astatine nan track. However, a week aft he qualified only 16th astatine Spa-Francorchamps, he suffered different setback. Hamilton has now been out-qualified by Leclerc astatine 10 of nan 14 rounds truthful acold and trails his team-mate by 30 points successful nan standings.

And, successful an astonishing admittance successful nan moments aft qualifying, Hamilton told Sky Sports: “It’s maine each time. I’m useless, perfectly useless. The squad person nary problem. You’ve seen nan car’s connected pole. So we astir apt request to alteration driver.”

After he grounded to advancement to Q3, Hamilton emerged from his cockpit and walked towards nan Ferrari motorhome holding his gloves successful beforehand of his visor to obstruct nan afloat glare of nan waiting TV cameras.

Hamilton’s lowly grid slot looks group to widen his tally without a podium decorativeness to 14 races. Until this play he had ne'er gone much than 10 rounds into a run without finishing successful nan apical three.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri and title rival Lando Norris had been expected to conflict for pole, but nan McLaren men were near to settee for 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Leclerc saw disconnected Piastri by conscionable 0.026 seconds, pinch Norris only 0.015secs down nan Australian. George Russell vanished 4th for Mercedes.

Leclerc said: “Today I don’t understand thing successful Formula One. Honestly, nan full qualifying was highly difficult. When I opportunity highly difficult, it’s not exaggerating. It was difficult for america to get to Q2, it was difficult for america to get to Q3. In Q3, nan conditions changed a small bit. Everything became a batch trickier and I knew I conscionable had to do a cleanable thigh to target third.

“At nan extremity of nan day, it’s rod position. I decidedly did not expect that. Honestly, I person nary words. It’s astir apt 1 of nan champion rod positions I’ve ever had. It’s nan astir unexpected, for sure.”