Hamilton furious with himself at Monza: "The team deserves better, maybe they will get it with Antonelli..."

It is with a closed, perplexed face that Lewis Hamilton appeared before the media on Saturday evening at Monza. The Briton had just signed a disappointing 6th place in qualifying for the Italian GP. Disappointing, because the Briton was in the running for pole position: author of the best time in Q2, comfortable on the Lombard track since the beginning of the weekend, the seven-time world champion started Q3 with serious arguments to secure his 105th pole position in Formula 1.

Unfortunately, at the end of an extremely close session – less than two tenths between the first six – the driver Mercedes failed to repeat his Q2 performance and had to settle for 6th place, behind his teammate George Russell, 3rd. A constant this season (12-4 in qualifying duels, to the advantage of George Russell) which frustrates Lewis Hamilton. He who was the expert in the flying lap exercise in the 2010s sees qualifying becoming his weak point this season.

"No one is to blame but me"

 "I think I could have been on the front line, at least the first line, and I just didn't get the job done in the end., regretted the English pilot, angry with himself, on Sky Sports. I lost a tenth and a half in the first and second corners and then I lost another tenth in the last corner, so no one is to blame but me. Qualifying has been my weakness for a while and I can't do it. So I'll keep trying."

Despite his two victories in 2024, Lewis Hamilton is giving himself a severe self-criticism of his performances, particularly on Saturday, and even believes that his future replacement – namely Andrea Kimi Antonelli – could do better than him. “I’m probably going to kick myself a few times in the next few hours but ultimately I have to move on. We have a good race car. The team did an amazing job this weekend, really. The car felt a lot better than it did in the last race and the team deserves better. Maybe they’ll get it with Kimi [Antonelli]…”

ALSO READ > Back on pole, Lando Norris remains measured before the race