Following his sixth-place result at the Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton took a brutally pessimistic stance and delivered a rather scathing verdict on his pace.
Hamilton had out-qualified team-mate Charles Leclerc for only the second time in his Ferrari career on Saturday, but that swiftly turned to woe as the Scuderia enforced team orders at the start of the race, with Leclerc plainly having better pace than the Brit.
After a late safety car, Leclerc proceeded to place among the top three cars in Barcelona, finally taking the podium alongside Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Hamilton, meanwhile, crossed the line in seventh after being overtaken by the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg towards the end of the race, and was only promoted to sixth due to a 10-second penalty for Max Verstappen.
After the race, Hamilton reflected on a ‘terrible’ day: “Just not a great day,” he told Sky Sports F1’s Rachel Brookes.
“Strategy was good. Team did a great job. Just that’s it.”
Brookes, who had already had to deal with a rather frustrated and fiery Verstappen in the media pen, then pushed Hamilton on why he was so downbeat.
“I’ve had a really bad day and have nothing to say,” Hamilton stated.
“It was a difficult day, there’s nothing else to add to it.
“It was terrible, there’s no point explaining it. It’s not your fault. I just don’t know what to say,” the 40-year-old concluded.
It was then put to Hamilton that Ferrari could find some answers for their lack of pace in the coming weeks, to which the seven-time champion responded: “I’m sure they won’t, it’s probably just me.”
Hamilton’s triple header woes
Following a dismal start to life with Ferrari, Hamilton put in a brilliant performance at the Imola Grand Prix to achieve his best grand prix finish of the season, coming home in fourth having started the race down in 11th.
However, across the past two weeks, more negative outcomes have been reached, finishing over 50 seconds behind team-mate Leclerc in Monaco as he laboured to a fifth-place finish, before the disappointment of Barcelona on Sunday.
Due to his dismal performance, Hamilton is currently 23 points ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in seventh place but 23 points behind Leclerc in sixth place in the drivers’ championship.
Ferrari hired the seven-time champion to help them win their first world championship since 2008, but his performances with the Maranello team thus far have not given the company much hope that he can return to his previous level of excellence.
