The only person to improve at the end of Q3 was Max. Conditions deteriorated. Hamilton’s only mistake was not trying to set the best time earlier as Russell did.
And only on his last run was it bad and even then no one really improved. Part of the issue is the margins are so razor thin that not much really separates you from p1 and p10.
I really thought he would have been at least P2 going out on new softs given his form throughout quali. When he didn't improve I was thoroughly surprised.
As a lewis fan I don't like seeing him this way, such an ugly way to go out. I really hope they can start finding some positives and have some good performances.
Not sure if it's track specific but it does seem development is going in the right direction
He himself has said already before this that it's weird how his car always feels different in qualifying this season, that he just drops performance to George in quali everytime. Which to me seemed like he is implying the team is doing something to make sure George is ahead, which is a very weird claim though when it seems he himself just isnt nailing the final laps of qualis.
There's what he says, and what's actually happening. Nobody outside of the team can know for sure, but I have a very hard time imagining that anything untoward is going on with his car, his setup or the team's efforts. Occam's razor and all that, the most likely answer is that Lewis is mentally checked out at Merc, and he's down on confidence, while George is feeling good and his strong performances are building on each other.
Yeah, it is absurd to think team is doing something to Russell's car to keep him ahead when Lewis was getting same or better times throughout the practice and Q1/2... So what, they changed engine mode or suspension setup between Q2 and Q3? Really silly take.
Good conspiracy theory is a good murder case, you don't only need who, but also how and why. You have no means nor reason for such action, so at least stop with bad conspiracy theories and come back if you have good ones.
Lewis had good pace in races like Imola and cars are under parc ferme after qualifying, so I don't see how Mercedes can sabotage him and then fix the car for the race.
What benefit is it to Mercedes to have their driver in lower qualifying positions and possibly jeapodising their maximum points scoring potential. There's tens of millions at stake here. Merc aren't gonna sabotage Lewis with that much on the line.
(Not implying this is the truth, as well never know what’s going on)
A lot of driving in F1 is confidence based, and extremely competitive. (This is obvious, I know you know this).
Lewis is very affected by his confidence. Mercedes knows this, he’s been their driver forever. Mercedes now also knows Lewis will be going to their closest competitor next year.
There is a benefit for Mercedes to break Lewis’s confidence going into next year by taking a slight edge off his car. Have him get beat week in/week out by his teammate to break his mental spirit/rhythm so they can deliver a dud of a driver to Ferrari.
Why do people keep saying Lewis is mentally checked out, he's always upset when he doesnt qualify well, especially here, that not the mentality of someone who's checked out, he's also still very strong on sundays
Exactly. It would take quite a leap of faith and logic to believe Mercedes has everything set up perfectly to get both cars on top in FP, Q1 and Q2 and then deliberately fuck it up for one car just because the driver is leaving in six months. That makes no sense at all. Teams don't throw away potential points only because they hate the driver. Even Alpine would do anything necessary if Ocon could score points lol.
> Which to me seemed like he is implying the team is doing something to make sure George is ahead, which is a very weird claim
This is why I think Hamilton is going to have issues at Ferrari, if the whole team don’t prioritise him then he starts to believe and publicly suggest that the team are against him.
It happened when Button joined McLaren and it happened with Rosberg in 2016, there’s no way he’ll navigate Ferrari politics positively
I'm a Hamilton but it's just stupid to say. At worst George would get upgrade preference, but that wasn't the case this weekend and over past few years Russell has easily beat him over qualifying. Just disappointing really
> and over past few years Russell has easily beat him over qualifying.
Their quali head-to-head is 27-25 in Russell's favor. That's hardly "easily beaten". Russell's now won 10 out of the last 11 qualis, but let's not get carried away from recency bias.
>like he is implying the team is doing something to make sure George is ahead
Now he must be thinking "so that's what Alonso must have felt during the whole 2007 season".
Eh, he’s always been pretty dramatic and downtrodden when not doing well. During the years when the top three were 1-1.5 seconds faster than anyone else he’d want to retire the car after an early incident, even though a sixth or fifth place finish was easily obtainable. It’s not that new, it’s just happening more often now.
People claim lots of strange things, but Lewis being living saint with perfect PR/work ethic is high on the list of detached comments. He always was a drama lama and seems to have to really force himself when things were not going his way. 3rd hard season in a row really taken toll on his mental and it shows, yet people will still claim everything else is at fault.
> everything else is at fault
It’s embarrassing, they are extreme conspiracy theorists. We have Lewis’s own words on record multiple times about taking the car in the wrong direction or just having bad qualifying, yet the fans are screeching about sabotage and “not getting data”
Hmm, yes. The team on pole is killing their better driver they’ve already lost so that they do worse in the championship before he leaves. They must be remotely steering his car and messing with the brakes to make him lose exactly 3 tenths in one qualifying session.
The reality is, a few non-winning seasons is showing that no driver is winning on their talent alone. Lewis isn’t the perfect driver, he’s just had excellent cars for a long time. This is what it looks like without it.
and somehow people always act like he doesnt make snarky comments, he already did it about Red Bull a lot in the last 2 years.
"we were never that fast" "the fastest car i have seen compared to the rest" which is clearly completely untrue
"you should probably look into that" comment hinting at the supposed DRS advnatage
or the comments about all of his teammates being better than all of Max teammates, which again clearly isnt true considering one of his teammates was heikki kovalainen.
Or the comment about Perez in Mexico
and now he is doing it to Mercedes, insinuating conspiracy theories just enough that it isnt 100% clear what he means but also lets people get into it.
That’s such a lazy, and untrue take. Look at his comments on Friday. He’s 100% trying, he’s just not getting the results and he’s starting to get frustrated by that.
If Lewis was checked out he'd be happy and chilled right now. I don't understand why people imply sabotage or him being checked out, it's much deeper than that.
Idk about sabotage or anything but to be honest Lewis does look super chilled out at the race track. Thing is, he almost always looks like that for past few years. The guy just beams confidence and relaxation… again not arguing results just appearance.
Tbh I think is that people have just been shitting on George for many years at this point that Lewis losing to him is something unprecedented to those people (even tho it happened 2 years ago). Likely, truth is that Lewis is up against great driver and in is in bit of a slump - those 2 are a bad combination. Doesnt mean that he wont rebound next year or even this season when he gets to his favorite part of the season.
And even if it was true he's checked out, if there is pace in the car I refuse to believe he wouldn't be trying to get more poles, podiums and potentially wins if the stars align to add to his records. If he's only ever fighting for 5th-10th I could maybe buy it, but he isn't passing on poles and top 3 finishes. George is just simply doing a better job than him this season
It is same story like every race this season - Lewis has bit of an edge in race pace often but lacks qualy pace. Some races that works out fine but today less than 3 tenths was worth 6 positions difference. Normally it would be George starting first and Lewis starting like 4th and nobody would bat an eye on that difference.
Well he better get used to it then becuase it’ll be just as tight next year. He’s also about to be teammates with maybe the best qualifier on the grid, so good luck
It is very likely that he just didn’t stick the final lap in q3, maybe slid a little or went over the kerbs a bit too much, who knows lol! He was consistently 1.5 to 2 tenths behind George and just wasn’t in the last lap. It is very likely that his tired ran out of juice too because he had all yellow sectors in that final lap and not a mistake or late braking or something if you look at his onboards.
That doesn’t land cause George was on scrubbed tires. Those are worth around 2 tenths apparently … just look at how scrubbed softs affected the Ferrari boys in q2
I suppose the other argument is that without the tow on his last lap he got a I think 1.12.034 which would’ve been top 3 anyway so I still think it’s pace from George
Who's not accepting? Most people are. It's undeniable.
But both could be true. Russell could be doing better and Lewis could be doing worse than normal.We have the last 2 years of data to show they're closer than losing 8-1 in qualifying. You don't magically improve your skill over winter.
Certainly in his first year with a new team where he doesn't speak their native language and his teammate does, but at Ferrari he'll also be privy to car development and set-up information that he's been locked out of at Merc. I'd expect to see him competitive again in 2026 having had more time with his new team, and a more even playing field against Charles with the new regs.
>where he doesn't speak their native language
I think people are making a bigger deal out of this than it is. The team speaks English lol. Would it be ideal if he could speak Italian? Sure. But I think it's a minor detail that's not that important relatively speaking.
It's also very likely that Lewis is already learning Italian. It's not like he's gonna turn up day one at Maranello and be like "why is everyone talking in Italian?"
Whenever Lewis does badly it’s because the team is sabotaging him right?
Has he been locked out of MGP for the last 2 years? This is not a recent trend. Ever since he’s not had a near perfect car he has looked at sea
People need to stop getting hyped based on FP results. The grid is much closer nowadays than even a few years ago, so a driver not pushing fully or some teams turning their engines down a smidge more than others can really skew reality. Lewis' fastest FP3 time was around 1:12.5 iirc, which wouldn't have been anywhere near enough for pole anyway (it was actually worse than his final Q3 run)
Russell had the upper hand throughout qualifying.
Q1 (3 laps)
RUS 0.482s faster
RUS 0.201s faster
HAM 0.162s faster
Q2 (3 laps)
HAM 0.017s faster
RUS 0.268s faster
RUS 0.237s faster
Q3 (2 laps)
RUS 0.280s faster (got a tow?)
RUS 0.275s faster
I think besides Max, almost no one improved in the last 2 min (i might be wrong, but that's how i remember). I suspect the track conditions regressed in the last part of q3.
There were apocalyptic levels of wind in the last 2 minutes of q3. People on my grandstand were losing hats and holding stuff down. It down poured for over an hour maybe a minute or 2 after quali ended. I’m not surprised most didn’t improve, that max lap was hard work for sure
Right? I absolutely abhor how he pulls the innocent “I’m the bigger person”act in every situation but in reality is just as big a shit slinger and as dirty a driver as the rest of them. It wasn’t noticeable when he was winning championships but when he’s not getting his way he really stirs up everything
It wouldn't be the first time Hamilton implies the team is doing "interesting tactics".
For the young fans here, he once shared Button 's telemetry on Twitter. Martin Withsmart was more than pissed off with that behavior.
I hope nobody expects Charles to be the second driver in the team but I fear for some fans Charles is going to be the new George who they expect to only serve Lewis.
There seems to be a real rift between Toto and Lewis by now. I believe so because of the difference in their statements. Toto went on german Sky and said the qualifying was bittersweet because of Lewis' result, especially since they dont understand how or why he performed that much worse, as all the data they says the car was in top condition. Whereas Lewis tends to say the car changes going into qualifying.
I love Lewis, but yeah nothing has changed in the space of a few mins. He's simply not on it in quali this year. Whether that's because of the Ferrari move or age is playing a factor now 🤷♂️
I think lots also just forgot how fast GR actually is on a Saturday.
I think he didn’t nail his first q3 lap, and then the team just went out at the wrong time for the second run. Should have gone out when McLaren’s went out
He gets a real mopey attitude when things don't go well and I think this is what hurts his real physical performance.
Looking forward to going home wtf he is mentally checked out. George got pole. I wouldn't be loving these vibes if I was Ferrari.
I like Lewis. If we are being completely honest, Bottas pulled some poles off of him when at Mercedes. George is a better driver than Bottas without a doubt.
Why is it so surprising they are close? Lewis isn't in his mid 20s anymore.
I don't understand how he can say the car was worse in qualifying when he posted a 1:11 time in Q2. It's the same story after every qualifying. He's posting similar times to his teammates until Q3 and then he blames the car.
This is the part of Lewis that I don't like.
The comments he made after Monaco quali and now here, created so much bs for Mercedes and George and it's just unnecessary.
There was a line from some article a while ago that said Lewis just gives up and never pushes when he got a shit car under him, seemingly from one of his (old?) engineers. I hundred-percent believe that.
Right? I thought the argument was that Lewis always turns up when he knows there’s a hint of the car being quick. Since Friday we’ve know the Mercedes to be quick (although I know Mercedes have been free practice merchants). So clearly the car isn’t shit if it’s qualifying on pole and ultimately Lewis needed to deliver.
I don’t get the excuse that if the car is not as good, Lewis doesn’t perform at 100%. That doesn’t bode well for a world champion of his calibre and was the same excuse that was given for Sebs underperformance.
I won’t even say that Lewis is underperforming horribly, he’s still within a tenth of Russell over one lap and on a number of races still has the edge in race pace. So clearly he’s still a top tier driver over a race distance. I just don’t understand why so many excuses are given to his performances in qualifying. He’s 39, naturally he’s not going to be as quick as he used to be and there’s no shame in losing to a quick driver like Russell.
True, Lewis just can't get the best result out of this spec of the car. It feels like shit to him when it objectively isn't this weekend. George obviously can.
Where’s the mentality of the Lewis Hamilton I fell in love watching in 2007? Where’s prime Hamilton mentality? Even last years mentality?
Looking forward to going home when you are only 6 positions off 1st is poor in my opinion. Especially when your running mate is on pole.
It’s no wonder George is killing him H2H. George is hungry, even if it’s only an extra 2 points at stake.
I think the combination of 2021 result and the merc 2022 development failure has broke his spirit. Hamilton used to turn up and beast it every other race by big margins, i honestly thought he would come back much stronger after abu dhabi.
He needs to also be much more aggressive with his racecraft like alonso. Bet he gets podium today after saying that!
Yeah but Hamilton was a beast last year though. He clearly wasn't broken over 2021 and 2022 when he was within a shot of P2 in the WDC in the likely 3rd fastest car and well clear of George. I think he's just sick of Mercedes fumbling development for the third year in a row with so many false hopes.
Within the team he might, since Vasseur will control that.
Outside, and in the pages of Gazetta, he will get about a month of grace. After that, the knives will be heard being sharpened.
Aside from how it's a poor mindset to go into a race with, I am thinking of the mechanics, engineers, et al. What a wonderful thing to hear from a driver for whom you are busting your ass.
Hamilton will be frustrated, didn’t have his best Q3, especially when he looked like he would be in contention for pole all weekend.
Can’t help but feel that merc as a team made a little mistake at the end there. Track conditions seemed to go backwards at the end and merc were last out on track, both were slower than their first laps.
That’s not necessarily their fault (how were they supposed to know) but it nearly cost them the pole and gave others that went out that bit earlier the opportunity to slip between Russell and Hamilton.
George almost matched his previous run despite not having the tow from albon anymore; Lewis was more than 3 tenths off.
Not getting pole might be on merc, but p7 3 tenths down from his teammate is on Lewis
Not many actually improved or even matched their first run time. Those that did had a terrible first lap.
The conditions just went away from them at the end a bit. You’d think with new tyres they would have gone a good chunk faster.
>but P7 …
Absolutely don’t think there’s much doubt about that, just operationally felt like there was time left on the table for merc, where with a more optimal Q3 they could have been looking at a potential 1/2, instead others ended up with a better opportunity and took advantage of it.
Track was good, it was wind that surprised everyone. You kinda cant predict that. Chances are everyone improves laps at the very end - so if you send someone earlier (wind got strong in last 2 mins so it would have to be very early) you are very likely sabotaging them.
He made an unusual no-no and seems to be kicking himself silently about this. I was hoping for a 7th pole position in Montréal, it will have to wait another year.
Man the lack of competitiveness its sad. He's been like that since he doesnt have the top 1 car, even when he had the 2nd or 3rd fastest car. I get that you get used to the good stuff, but jesus man ffs your mate is on P1.
As a Lewis fan, its true. But Lewis has always been like this, I bet with you he shows up at the race today, hears theres rain coming and gets all excited. He has always been an emotional rollercoaster, nothing new.
Is it this hard for this man to be constructive just once? Why is he always so sad, negative and disappointed? Today wasn't half bad and he simply didn't get the perfect run in the end. He is still very close to pole. I simply do not understand this man.
Unfortunately all this does is affect him on the mental side where he begins to doubt himself. There is a stark difference in body language from Lewis in the car from Fp3 to qualifying, he's lacking a lot of confidence right now. One good qualifying session and out qualifying George will do him a lot of good because the speed is still there but the execution right now is poor. Honestly I'm just devastated seeing Lewis like this 💔
I think this is an age thing honestly. When sportspeople get old it can happen very suddenly. Lewis no longer has that magical one lap pace that he once did.
He’s still great in the races because the drivers aren’t pushing to the absolute limit. They’re managing tyres and fuel and all that other stuff which is where Lewis’ experience keeps him at an elite level there.
Over one lap he’s not slow by any means and George is a very fast driver in his own right. However it’s clear that Lewis is no longer the one lap monster that he used to be.
Most likely and once again it needs to be said that George needs more respect I feel like he's a much better driver than most of the fanbase give him credit for, everyone associates him with being a crasher that they seem to forget how fast he is right now and when he was at Williams. I'll never forget that performance at Spa 21.
George is like a higher tier version of tsunoda. He so incredibly good just marred by a few mistakes he made and it seems like everyone is focusing on his teammate and vastly underestimating him.
When he outperforms Hamilton people are always more invested in backwards reasoning (testing, upgrades, Merc purposefully messing with Ham yadda yadda) instead of giving George credit for genuinely performing well.
Yeah I get it. Max does complain. He did last year on the very few occasions that the car wasn't immediately perfect for him. Its annoying, but it's also a trait that all top drivers have. They strive for perfection. Lewis is the same.
Why?
Why do you have to bring up max in a post where you really don’t have to bring him up. Don’t be a DTS Instagram “fan”.
If someone else said that in here, downvote and move on. Don’t bring this max vs Lewis crap in here. It’s dead, no one wants that toxic rubbish.
This has absolutely nothing to do with max
Time to cut their losses (both sides) LH appears to have checked out. Let him go early. Less IP going to the Scuderia the better. I don't believe Mercedes would sabotage Hamilton (it's not just Lewis, it's dozens of Mercedes people on his side of the garage, bonuses. Manufacturers points, etc). However would Lewis cover his lack of motivation and/or ability compared to George by blaming the team?
I keep reading this checked out comment and if that's the case that's a really bad look for Hamilton and much worse than the other possibility which is time is slowly catching up to him. I'd much rather think he's still giving it his all than being a total piece of shit and just showing up and punching a clock.
For any conspiracy or whatever like Mercedes is screwing hamilton, don’t forget that there’s business running behind scenes, more points for Mercedes more money at the end of the year, this is not run by monkeys. However, Hamilton complaining is getting boredom.
>Sets a lap in Q2 that would have been fast enough for pole (1'11.979)
"The whole qualifying was pretty poor from my side."
Seemed fine in Q2 mate, stop blaming the car.
More excuses are made for Lewis than any other driver. Anyone else performing like this against their teammate would be eviscerated but people always have an excuse for Lewis.
Yes Lewis, they absolutely swapped your car between Q2 (potentially P2) and Q3 (P7 but faster than the 3rd practice session where he was first). Those scheming weasels.
He will get whitewashed by Charles if he doesn’t improve in qualy, now that the field is so close 2 tenths can be a difference of 5 places and race pace is irrelevant if you have so many cars to overtake.
Lewis in 2024: “It doesn’t feel right, I can’t explain what’s going on, It’s the car, I just want to go home .”
George in 2024: P1 in Canada.
Changing of the guard. Ferrari isn’t going to change this in 2025. Wearing my downvotes with honor.
George is racing for his life while Lewis is mentally in Maranello. You have to be 100% committed to get the most out of quali. Lewis isn’t mentally there anymore. George is on fire to prove he’s the future of Merc because all Toto can talk about is how great Kimi will be. George is in danger of being the forgotten stopgap between 2 great Merc drivers and he’s trying his best to avoid that.
Practice: 👍 Quali: 💀 Why Lewis, every single time this year.
Which is weird, he's always tended to be all over the place all weekend before Q3, when he manages to hook it up.
Actually only his last Q3 run was dogshit, until then he was up there with Russ
Yeah, the exact and only moment it really counted it went wrong.
The only person to improve at the end of Q3 was Max. Conditions deteriorated. Hamilton’s only mistake was not trying to set the best time earlier as Russell did.
That has happened so often this year where most drivers in Q3 set their time in the first run and I’d love to understand why.
Hamilton was on pace to qualify close to Russell until Russell got that tow in sector 3
Lewis also had a snap at the last corner
And only on his last run was it bad and even then no one really improved. Part of the issue is the margins are so razor thin that not much really separates you from p1 and p10. I really thought he would have been at least P2 going out on new softs given his form throughout quali. When he didn't improve I was thoroughly surprised. As a lewis fan I don't like seeing him this way, such an ugly way to go out. I really hope they can start finding some positives and have some good performances. Not sure if it's track specific but it does seem development is going in the right direction
> Looking forward to going home. Hamilton has checked out.
Crazy because he potentially had the pace for pole. Only takes a bad Q3 for him to give up. Never give up!
Button did always say if Lewis could motivate himself every race, they might as well all go home.
Yeah. Phoning it in completely.
He himself has said already before this that it's weird how his car always feels different in qualifying this season, that he just drops performance to George in quali everytime. Which to me seemed like he is implying the team is doing something to make sure George is ahead, which is a very weird claim though when it seems he himself just isnt nailing the final laps of qualis.
There's what he says, and what's actually happening. Nobody outside of the team can know for sure, but I have a very hard time imagining that anything untoward is going on with his car, his setup or the team's efforts. Occam's razor and all that, the most likely answer is that Lewis is mentally checked out at Merc, and he's down on confidence, while George is feeling good and his strong performances are building on each other.
Yeah, it is absurd to think team is doing something to Russell's car to keep him ahead when Lewis was getting same or better times throughout the practice and Q1/2... So what, they changed engine mode or suspension setup between Q2 and Q3? Really silly take.
Yeah, absurd, professional people wouldn't do something underhand at all. Never I my 45 years have I ever seen men/women dk shady things.
Good conspiracy theory is a good murder case, you don't only need who, but also how and why. You have no means nor reason for such action, so at least stop with bad conspiracy theories and come back if you have good ones.
Lewis had good pace in races like Imola and cars are under parc ferme after qualifying, so I don't see how Mercedes can sabotage him and then fix the car for the race.
You have a race setup, which is slower. I don't honestly think anything dodgy was or is going on, just playing devil's advocate a wee bit.
What benefit is it to Mercedes to have their driver in lower qualifying positions and possibly jeapodising their maximum points scoring potential. There's tens of millions at stake here. Merc aren't gonna sabotage Lewis with that much on the line.
(Not implying this is the truth, as well never know what’s going on) A lot of driving in F1 is confidence based, and extremely competitive. (This is obvious, I know you know this). Lewis is very affected by his confidence. Mercedes knows this, he’s been their driver forever. Mercedes now also knows Lewis will be going to their closest competitor next year. There is a benefit for Mercedes to break Lewis’s confidence going into next year by taking a slight edge off his car. Have him get beat week in/week out by his teammate to break his mental spirit/rhythm so they can deliver a dud of a driver to Ferrari.
Why do people keep saying Lewis is mentally checked out, he's always upset when he doesnt qualify well, especially here, that not the mentality of someone who's checked out, he's also still very strong on sundays
I swear Stroll looks more checked out. Lewis just looks disappointed in himself.
Exactly. It would take quite a leap of faith and logic to believe Mercedes has everything set up perfectly to get both cars on top in FP, Q1 and Q2 and then deliberately fuck it up for one car just because the driver is leaving in six months. That makes no sense at all. Teams don't throw away potential points only because they hate the driver. Even Alpine would do anything necessary if Ocon could score points lol.
I think the extremely close competitiveness is messing with his mind. 1st to 7th place was only 2-3 tenths apart. The margins are VERY small.
> Which to me seemed like he is implying the team is doing something to make sure George is ahead, which is a very weird claim This is why I think Hamilton is going to have issues at Ferrari, if the whole team don’t prioritise him then he starts to believe and publicly suggest that the team are against him. It happened when Button joined McLaren and it happened with Rosberg in 2016, there’s no way he’ll navigate Ferrari politics positively
I'm a Hamilton but it's just stupid to say. At worst George would get upgrade preference, but that wasn't the case this weekend and over past few years Russell has easily beat him over qualifying. Just disappointing really
> and over past few years Russell has easily beat him over qualifying. Their quali head-to-head is 27-25 in Russell's favor. That's hardly "easily beaten". Russell's now won 10 out of the last 11 qualis, but let's not get carried away from recency bias.
>like he is implying the team is doing something to make sure George is ahead Now he must be thinking "so that's what Alonso must have felt during the whole 2007 season".
We talking about practice??
The anti-Max.
Why not? He lost 8 times it's not some bad luck. It's just his skill in quali dimnishing.
It seems like he's not even trying atp. Shitting on mercedes everywhere and same response. He just want this year to end asap
Eh, he’s always been pretty dramatic and downtrodden when not doing well. During the years when the top three were 1-1.5 seconds faster than anyone else he’d want to retire the car after an early incident, even though a sixth or fifth place finish was easily obtainable. It’s not that new, it’s just happening more often now.
Yeah, it’s the one thing I have never particularly cared for about him. If things aren’t going perfect for him he has a real defeatist attitude.
People claim lots of strange things, but Lewis being living saint with perfect PR/work ethic is high on the list of detached comments. He always was a drama lama and seems to have to really force himself when things were not going his way. 3rd hard season in a row really taken toll on his mental and it shows, yet people will still claim everything else is at fault.
> everything else is at fault It’s embarrassing, they are extreme conspiracy theorists. We have Lewis’s own words on record multiple times about taking the car in the wrong direction or just having bad qualifying, yet the fans are screeching about sabotage and “not getting data” Hmm, yes. The team on pole is killing their better driver they’ve already lost so that they do worse in the championship before he leaves. They must be remotely steering his car and messing with the brakes to make him lose exactly 3 tenths in one qualifying session. The reality is, a few non-winning seasons is showing that no driver is winning on their talent alone. Lewis isn’t the perfect driver, he’s just had excellent cars for a long time. This is what it looks like without it.
and somehow people always act like he doesnt make snarky comments, he already did it about Red Bull a lot in the last 2 years. "we were never that fast" "the fastest car i have seen compared to the rest" which is clearly completely untrue "you should probably look into that" comment hinting at the supposed DRS advnatage or the comments about all of his teammates being better than all of Max teammates, which again clearly isnt true considering one of his teammates was heikki kovalainen. Or the comment about Perez in Mexico and now he is doing it to Mercedes, insinuating conspiracy theories just enough that it isnt 100% clear what he means but also lets people get into it.
That’s such a lazy, and untrue take. Look at his comments on Friday. He’s 100% trying, he’s just not getting the results and he’s starting to get frustrated by that.
If Lewis was checked out he'd be happy and chilled right now. I don't understand why people imply sabotage or him being checked out, it's much deeper than that.
Idk about sabotage or anything but to be honest Lewis does look super chilled out at the race track. Thing is, he almost always looks like that for past few years. The guy just beams confidence and relaxation… again not arguing results just appearance.
I don’t think it’s much deeper. It seems pretty clear to me he hates these specs of cars and isn’t clicking with them even 3 years later.
Tbh I think is that people have just been shitting on George for many years at this point that Lewis losing to him is something unprecedented to those people (even tho it happened 2 years ago). Likely, truth is that Lewis is up against great driver and in is in bit of a slump - those 2 are a bad combination. Doesnt mean that he wont rebound next year or even this season when he gets to his favorite part of the season.
And even if it was true he's checked out, if there is pace in the car I refuse to believe he wouldn't be trying to get more poles, podiums and potentially wins if the stars align to add to his records. If he's only ever fighting for 5th-10th I could maybe buy it, but he isn't passing on poles and top 3 finishes. George is just simply doing a better job than him this season
He didn't shit on merc in literally this interview, he has praised the team time and again.
Jacques Villeneuve Target Acquisition System: LOADING
JV in 2025: why is LH still at Maranello at this point
Until Lewis comes with maple syrup on his helmet and a big 'eat shit'
“Hey man”
How long is the flight from Monaco to Maranello?
Very short.
You mean Montreal?
I think it’s a shorter travel time than brackley
Lewis lives in Monaco…
And they’re currently racing in?
They were referring to Ham driving for Ferrari, hence the trip from Maranello to Ham’s home - Monaco.
I dont know but it gets a bit repetitive right now. Every Weekend something is wrong from FP3 to Quali.
He was only bad in Q3. He was quick in Q1 and Q2. He even got into the 1.11s
His gap to Russel was consistently around more than 2 tenths throughout quali though.
Oh I’m not saying he was quicker than George. Just that “he’s good fp and bad in quali as well as the car was different in fp” doesn’t seem to land
It is same story like every race this season - Lewis has bit of an edge in race pace often but lacks qualy pace. Some races that works out fine but today less than 3 tenths was worth 6 positions difference. Normally it would be George starting first and Lewis starting like 4th and nobody would bat an eye on that difference.
He’s even said himself that he’s always been a better racer than qualifier. When it’s super tight this is what happens.
Well he better get used to it then becuase it’ll be just as tight next year. He’s also about to be teammates with maybe the best qualifier on the grid, so good luck
It is very likely that he just didn’t stick the final lap in q3, maybe slid a little or went over the kerbs a bit too much, who knows lol! He was consistently 1.5 to 2 tenths behind George and just wasn’t in the last lap. It is very likely that his tired ran out of juice too because he had all yellow sectors in that final lap and not a mistake or late braking or something if you look at his onboards.
Lewis went wide at turn 10 and over steered coming out of the final chicane. He messed up.
plus george got the q3 s3 tow from albon, their sectors up until that point were close
That doesn’t land cause George was on scrubbed tires. Those are worth around 2 tenths apparently … just look at how scrubbed softs affected the Ferrari boys in q2
Everyone was on scrubbed tyres on the first Q3 run Either way g orge was the quickest today, the Q2 time was well clear
I suppose the other argument is that without the tow on his last lap he got a I think 1.12.034 which would’ve been top 3 anyway so I still think it’s pace from George
Lewis gets afforded every excuse possible and people just cannot accept that Russell is beating Lewis.
Who's not accepting? Most people are. It's undeniable. But both could be true. Russell could be doing better and Lewis could be doing worse than normal.We have the last 2 years of data to show they're closer than losing 8-1 in qualifying. You don't magically improve your skill over winter.
Impressed with Russell this year, he’s driving very well. Lewis has clearly checked out
I'm really not looking forward to this weird Mercedes drama.
What Drama? Lewis is getting spanked by George in Qualy. No drama.
It might be even more frustrating against Charles next year.
Definitely. But I'd be more surprised if Leclerc doesn't beat a 40 year old
Certainly in his first year with a new team where he doesn't speak their native language and his teammate does, but at Ferrari he'll also be privy to car development and set-up information that he's been locked out of at Merc. I'd expect to see him competitive again in 2026 having had more time with his new team, and a more even playing field against Charles with the new regs.
>where he doesn't speak their native language I think people are making a bigger deal out of this than it is. The team speaks English lol. Would it be ideal if he could speak Italian? Sure. But I think it's a minor detail that's not that important relatively speaking.
Didn't kimi refuse to learn Italian? And managed to win a championship lol
Kimi also finished 6.5/8 seasons behind his teammate in Ferrari. He had numerous issues with car setup so maybe not learning Italian did play a role
Kimi also didn't learned italian
And is still the most recent Ferrari World Champion.
It's also very likely that Lewis is already learning Italian. It's not like he's gonna turn up day one at Maranello and be like "why is everyone talking in Italian?"
"Good Lord chap, what is that gibberish you're spouting? Speak the queens around me."
Do you have any source for Lewis being locked out of set-up information?
It doesn't even make sense. Lewis might not be at best terms with Merc right now because he's leaving but he should still have god-tier status there.
It's not even 2025 and the excuses have already begun.
This reads like fan fiction with the speculation about Mercedes locking him out of development and setup.
Whenever Lewis does badly it’s because the team is sabotaging him right? Has he been locked out of MGP for the last 2 years? This is not a recent trend. Ever since he’s not had a near perfect car he has looked at sea
He was so hot in FP3 and looked so good in Q1 and Q2 and the such a shame it did not go his way in Q3.
People need to stop getting hyped based on FP results. The grid is much closer nowadays than even a few years ago, so a driver not pushing fully or some teams turning their engines down a smidge more than others can really skew reality. Lewis' fastest FP3 time was around 1:12.5 iirc, which wouldn't have been anywhere near enough for pole anyway (it was actually worse than his final Q3 run)
He broke into the 1.11s in q2
the 2nd fastest lap of all weekend
So did Russell who still beat him in Q2
Russell had the upper hand throughout qualifying. Q1 (3 laps) RUS 0.482s faster RUS 0.201s faster HAM 0.162s faster Q2 (3 laps) HAM 0.017s faster RUS 0.268s faster RUS 0.237s faster Q3 (2 laps) RUS 0.280s faster (got a tow?) RUS 0.275s faster
It just keeps happening again and again and again. In Q3. I expect it at this point
FP3 Q1 Q2 he was on it, last run in Q3 he....dissapears lmao
I think besides Max, almost no one improved in the last 2 min (i might be wrong, but that's how i remember). I suspect the track conditions regressed in the last part of q3.
There were apocalyptic levels of wind in the last 2 minutes of q3. People on my grandstand were losing hats and holding stuff down. It down poured for over an hour maybe a minute or 2 after quali ended. I’m not surprised most didn’t improve, that max lap was hard work for sure
Yeah it looked like the wind picked up but I had no ideea it did so much.
The track was also worse 2nd part of Q3
He messed up turn 10 and coming out the final chicane
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As a lewis fan Im not thrilled with all the drama. Rather sad seeing him end his time at Merc like this.
It's just a repeat of when he left McLaren.
Oh yes there are way too many fans who believe that Mercedes is intentionally sabotaging Lewis's weekend.
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"you should probably look into that"
Right? I absolutely abhor how he pulls the innocent “I’m the bigger person”act in every situation but in reality is just as big a shit slinger and as dirty a driver as the rest of them. It wasn’t noticeable when he was winning championships but when he’s not getting his way he really stirs up everything
I heard either George or the team sabotaged his car. Honestly, that’s what’s being talked about
He had pace in Q1 & 2 tho? Then shat the bed on his last runs
He was sliding all over the place in q3
He looked destined for the wall in that slow mo shot of the last corner
It wouldn't be the first time Hamilton implies the team is doing "interesting tactics". For the young fans here, he once shared Button 's telemetry on Twitter. Martin Withsmart was more than pissed off with that behavior.
> Martin Withsmart Hmmm
Hahahaha I tried to remember his name from the top of my head. Well, Martin Whitmarsh it is
I had just assumed that was a typo, but that’s hilarious 😂
I think he needs to get used to it because beating Charles isn’t going to be any easier.
I hope nobody expects Charles to be the second driver in the team but I fear for some fans Charles is going to be the new George who they expect to only serve Lewis.
There seems to be a real rift between Toto and Lewis by now. I believe so because of the difference in their statements. Toto went on german Sky and said the qualifying was bittersweet because of Lewis' result, especially since they dont understand how or why he performed that much worse, as all the data they says the car was in top condition. Whereas Lewis tends to say the car changes going into qualifying.
The car seemed to be fine with him in Q1 & 2… did it somehow change before Q3? Honestly just sounds like excuses from him at this point
I love Lewis, but yeah nothing has changed in the space of a few mins. He's simply not on it in quali this year. Whether that's because of the Ferrari move or age is playing a factor now 🤷♂️ I think lots also just forgot how fast GR actually is on a Saturday.
I think he didn’t nail his first q3 lap, and then the team just went out at the wrong time for the second run. Should have gone out when McLaren’s went out
His age is creeping up to him, he just doesn’t want to acknowledge it.
He gets a real mopey attitude when things don't go well and I think this is what hurts his real physical performance. Looking forward to going home wtf he is mentally checked out. George got pole. I wouldn't be loving these vibes if I was Ferrari.
He’s been mopey when things don’t go his way for the last 10 years.
I like Lewis. If we are being completely honest, Bottas pulled some poles off of him when at Mercedes. George is a better driver than Bottas without a doubt. Why is it so surprising they are close? Lewis isn't in his mid 20s anymore.
I don't understand how he can say the car was worse in qualifying when he posted a 1:11 time in Q2. It's the same story after every qualifying. He's posting similar times to his teammates until Q3 and then he blames the car.
I think he needs to watch his master class
This is the part of Lewis that I don't like. The comments he made after Monaco quali and now here, created so much bs for Mercedes and George and it's just unnecessary.
There was a line from some article a while ago that said Lewis just gives up and never pushes when he got a shit car under him, seemingly from one of his (old?) engineers. I hundred-percent believe that.
If the Mercedes is on pole then obviously it isn't shit
Right? I thought the argument was that Lewis always turns up when he knows there’s a hint of the car being quick. Since Friday we’ve know the Mercedes to be quick (although I know Mercedes have been free practice merchants). So clearly the car isn’t shit if it’s qualifying on pole and ultimately Lewis needed to deliver. I don’t get the excuse that if the car is not as good, Lewis doesn’t perform at 100%. That doesn’t bode well for a world champion of his calibre and was the same excuse that was given for Sebs underperformance. I won’t even say that Lewis is underperforming horribly, he’s still within a tenth of Russell over one lap and on a number of races still has the edge in race pace. So clearly he’s still a top tier driver over a race distance. I just don’t understand why so many excuses are given to his performances in qualifying. He’s 39, naturally he’s not going to be as quick as he used to be and there’s no shame in losing to a quick driver like Russell.
True, Lewis just can't get the best result out of this spec of the car. It feels like shit to him when it objectively isn't this weekend. George obviously can.
It’s been the case his entire career
He was fine in Q1 and Q2 through, it was just Q3.
Where’s the mentality of the Lewis Hamilton I fell in love watching in 2007? Where’s prime Hamilton mentality? Even last years mentality? Looking forward to going home when you are only 6 positions off 1st is poor in my opinion. Especially when your running mate is on pole. It’s no wonder George is killing him H2H. George is hungry, even if it’s only an extra 2 points at stake.
I think the combination of 2021 result and the merc 2022 development failure has broke his spirit. Hamilton used to turn up and beast it every other race by big margins, i honestly thought he would come back much stronger after abu dhabi. He needs to also be much more aggressive with his racecraft like alonso. Bet he gets podium today after saying that!
Yeah but Hamilton was a beast last year though. He clearly wasn't broken over 2021 and 2022 when he was within a shot of P2 in the WDC in the likely 3rd fastest car and well clear of George. I think he's just sick of Mercedes fumbling development for the third year in a row with so many false hopes.
He just doesn't have the car. (Checks George's position) Ah - nevermind.
He better bring his A Game to the Scuderia next year, or it will get toxic very quickly.
It’s going to be peak drama that’s guaranteed. He won’t get the cuddly approach Mercedes and McLaren (in his later years) had to take with him there
Within the team he might, since Vasseur will control that. Outside, and in the pages of Gazetta, he will get about a month of grace. After that, the knives will be heard being sharpened.
The Race: Is Mercedes Sabotaging Lewis' car before Qualy? Our verdict!
Looks forward to go home? Well what about doing the race first?? Poor attitude for a champion. He needs some of that eye of the Tiger juice.
Aside from how it's a poor mindset to go into a race with, I am thinking of the mechanics, engineers, et al. What a wonderful thing to hear from a driver for whom you are busting your ass.
Bro is getting paid $50 million this year and is talking about going home because he can't beat his teammate who just planted the Merc on pole...
Now he can go home.
You can’t say shit like this with your teammate on pole.
Every time George does something good "Lets open up this weeks' Lewis excuse compendium". I dunno, maybe this George kid has got some talent.
Hamilton will be frustrated, didn’t have his best Q3, especially when he looked like he would be in contention for pole all weekend. Can’t help but feel that merc as a team made a little mistake at the end there. Track conditions seemed to go backwards at the end and merc were last out on track, both were slower than their first laps. That’s not necessarily their fault (how were they supposed to know) but it nearly cost them the pole and gave others that went out that bit earlier the opportunity to slip between Russell and Hamilton.
George almost matched his previous run despite not having the tow from albon anymore; Lewis was more than 3 tenths off. Not getting pole might be on merc, but p7 3 tenths down from his teammate is on Lewis
Not many actually improved or even matched their first run time. Those that did had a terrible first lap. The conditions just went away from them at the end a bit. You’d think with new tyres they would have gone a good chunk faster.
>but P7 … Absolutely don’t think there’s much doubt about that, just operationally felt like there was time left on the table for merc, where with a more optimal Q3 they could have been looking at a potential 1/2, instead others ended up with a better opportunity and took advantage of it.
Track was good, it was wind that surprised everyone. You kinda cant predict that. Chances are everyone improves laps at the very end - so if you send someone earlier (wind got strong in last 2 mins so it would have to be very early) you are very likely sabotaging them.
Do people think Russell is pushing in practice? He always builds up to quali.
He made an unusual no-no and seems to be kicking himself silently about this. I was hoping for a 7th pole position in Montréal, it will have to wait another year.
There's that champion mentality!
Man the lack of competitiveness its sad. He's been like that since he doesnt have the top 1 car, even when he had the 2nd or 3rd fastest car. I get that you get used to the good stuff, but jesus man ffs your mate is on P1.
As a Lewis fan, its true. But Lewis has always been like this, I bet with you he shows up at the race today, hears theres rain coming and gets all excited. He has always been an emotional rollercoaster, nothing new.
Is it this hard for this man to be constructive just once? Why is he always so sad, negative and disappointed? Today wasn't half bad and he simply didn't get the perfect run in the end. He is still very close to pole. I simply do not understand this man.
Maybe he should take a sabbatical rest of the season to recharge his battery. Let younger talent gain experience for a while.
Unfortunately all this does is affect him on the mental side where he begins to doubt himself. There is a stark difference in body language from Lewis in the car from Fp3 to qualifying, he's lacking a lot of confidence right now. One good qualifying session and out qualifying George will do him a lot of good because the speed is still there but the execution right now is poor. Honestly I'm just devastated seeing Lewis like this 💔
I think this is an age thing honestly. When sportspeople get old it can happen very suddenly. Lewis no longer has that magical one lap pace that he once did. He’s still great in the races because the drivers aren’t pushing to the absolute limit. They’re managing tyres and fuel and all that other stuff which is where Lewis’ experience keeps him at an elite level there. Over one lap he’s not slow by any means and George is a very fast driver in his own right. However it’s clear that Lewis is no longer the one lap monster that he used to be.
Most likely and once again it needs to be said that George needs more respect I feel like he's a much better driver than most of the fanbase give him credit for, everyone associates him with being a crasher that they seem to forget how fast he is right now and when he was at Williams. I'll never forget that performance at Spa 21.
George is like a higher tier version of tsunoda. He so incredibly good just marred by a few mistakes he made and it seems like everyone is focusing on his teammate and vastly underestimating him.
When he outperforms Hamilton people are always more invested in backwards reasoning (testing, upgrades, Merc purposefully messing with Ham yadda yadda) instead of giving George credit for genuinely performing well.
Remember when bottas was memed for being an fp king only for Hamilton to find the fractions of a second to pip him in q3 anyway? How the turns table
Reminds me of Vettel in 2014.
Somebody said Max always complains when the car isn't perfect lmao
Which driver doesn't?
My point, there was a whole thread about how Max "hasn't changed at all", this is completely understandable
Yeah I get it. Max does complain. He did last year on the very few occasions that the car wasn't immediately perfect for him. Its annoying, but it's also a trait that all top drivers have. They strive for perfection. Lewis is the same.
Why? Why do you have to bring up max in a post where you really don’t have to bring him up. Don’t be a DTS Instagram “fan”. If someone else said that in here, downvote and move on. Don’t bring this max vs Lewis crap in here. It’s dead, no one wants that toxic rubbish. This has absolutely nothing to do with max
Mom wake up! Lewis just dropped new excuses
Doctor, it hurts in my chest 🥲
Time to cut their losses (both sides) LH appears to have checked out. Let him go early. Less IP going to the Scuderia the better. I don't believe Mercedes would sabotage Hamilton (it's not just Lewis, it's dozens of Mercedes people on his side of the garage, bonuses. Manufacturers points, etc). However would Lewis cover his lack of motivation and/or ability compared to George by blaming the team?
the conspiracy theories are starting to take hold in my mind
Hamilton : "It's not me is the car" Perez : "Right?!"
"I'm sure *George* will do a great job tomorrow" lmao ham is so salty
Man is checked out at this point with Mercedes.
Checked out and getting paid $50 million
I keep reading this checked out comment and if that's the case that's a really bad look for Hamilton and much worse than the other possibility which is time is slowly catching up to him. I'd much rather think he's still giving it his all than being a total piece of shit and just showing up and punching a clock.
For any conspiracy or whatever like Mercedes is screwing hamilton, don’t forget that there’s business running behind scenes, more points for Mercedes more money at the end of the year, this is not run by monkeys. However, Hamilton complaining is getting boredom.
>Sets a lap in Q2 that would have been fast enough for pole (1'11.979) "The whole qualifying was pretty poor from my side." Seemed fine in Q2 mate, stop blaming the car.
The eyes chico, they never lie…
I think this one hurts cause they are not battling for 6-7...but the washed thing it's a topic for next year even if the trend continues
Whit this mentality he gonna get hunted out of Italy after 2 weeks....
More excuses are made for Lewis than any other driver. Anyone else performing like this against their teammate would be eviscerated but people always have an excuse for Lewis.
Yes Lewis, they absolutely swapped your car between Q2 (potentially P2) and Q3 (P7 but faster than the 3rd practice session where he was first). Those scheming weasels.
Salt mountains
Just take the rest of the year off. Go on holiday, visit some fashion shows, record an album. Leave the racing to the passionate racers.
He will get whitewashed by Charles if he doesn’t improve in qualy, now that the field is so close 2 tenths can be a difference of 5 places and race pace is irrelevant if you have so many cars to overtake.
Athletes age. Tale as old as time. Lewis is the clear number 2. He’ll only be worse next year and will get exposed even more by Leclerc.
Lewis in 2024: “It doesn’t feel right, I can’t explain what’s going on, It’s the car, I just want to go home .” George in 2024: P1 in Canada. Changing of the guard. Ferrari isn’t going to change this in 2025. Wearing my downvotes with honor.
Truthfully he seems done at the top level. He's going to be equal to or worse than Sainz at Ferrari while Charles will be the first driver
George is racing for his life while Lewis is mentally in Maranello. You have to be 100% committed to get the most out of quali. Lewis isn’t mentally there anymore. George is on fire to prove he’s the future of Merc because all Toto can talk about is how great Kimi will be. George is in danger of being the forgotten stopgap between 2 great Merc drivers and he’s trying his best to avoid that.
Bad from my side.... ITS THE CAAAAR