Lewis Hamilton suffers more F1 misery in Qatar and says just 11 words | F1 | Sport

Lewis Hamilton could muster only 11 words in a glum interview after suffering another qualifying shocker. This time it was for the Sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix, for which the Ferrari driver could only manage to go 19th fasters out of the 20 drivers with another dismal display.

Hamilton needed a strong showing on his final run but produced a lap only good enough for 15th on the timesheets. He was swiftly knocked down into the bottom five when Kimi Antonelli leapfrogged his more experienced rival while two more drivers also put in a better lap time, condemning the Ferrari driver to just 18th on the grid for Saturday’s short-form race.

While his race helmet prevented us from seeing the expression on his face, his body language said everything. His shoulders slumped, he trudged down the pit lane towards the media pen, followed by his trusted ally and physiotherapist Angela Cullen, and when he appeared in front of the TV cameras he did not have a whole lot to say.

Asked first by Sky Sports how difficult the car had been to drive, he simply replied: “The same as always.” Rachel Brookes then questioned if the higher downforce wing he was running with had made the Ferrari any better, to which the driver responded: “No, clearly not.” Finally, when asked if there were any positives to take, Hamilton simply quipped: “The weather is nice.”

Team-mate Charles Leclerc was, at least, able to show that there was some pace in the Ferrari. He was able to reach the final part of Sprint qualifying without too much trouble, though he never looked likely to be a strong contender for pole and that was proven to be the case when the chequered flag flew and the Monegasque’s best effort was good enough for only ninth on the grid.

Oscar Piastri took pole for the short-form race, a warning to team-mate and championship leader Lando Norris that there is still fight left in the Australian. “F**k yeah!” Piastri said over the radio after that result was confirmed, no doubt delighted to have laid a glove on Norris for the first time in a while.

Piastri said: “It has been a day where things have clicked from the start. I’m happy with the result – a few things to tidy up but it is nice to be able to say that starting from pole. It is only the Sprint, but I’ll take what I can get. The pace was there all day, hopefully we can keep that going.”

George Russell split the two McLaren cars and Piastri will hope that the Mercedes driver can stay in front of Norris, with every point vital now in these final two weekends of the season. The other title contender, Max Verstappen could only manage sixth on the grid and, somewhat surprisingly, was beaten by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.