Lewis Hamilton has said he is “definitely not fast any more” after another disappointing qualifying performance in his final season at Mercedes.
Hamilton’s comments came after he qualified seventh for the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix.
The seven-time champion, who is joining Ferrari next season, was 0.399 seconds slower than team-mate George Russell, who will start the sprint race second behind McLaren‘s Lando Norris.
Hamilton said: “Same as every other qualifying – not that great.
“I’m just slow. Same every weekend. Car felt relatively decent. You know, no issues. Not really much more to say.”
Hamilton is the all-time record holder for pole positions in F1, with 104. The next closest is fellow seven-time champion Michael Schumacher on 68.
But after being closely matched in qualifying with Russell over their previous two seasons together, Hamilton has out-qualified his team-mate only six times across all competitive qualifying sessions in 22 races, including six sprint events.
Their comparison is 5-17 in qualifying sessions not including those for sprint races.
Russell’s average advantage over the season is 0.16secs a lap.
Until partnering Russell, Hamilton had never previously been out-qualified by his team-mate over their time together.
When it was put to him that the problem could not be him, Hamilton said: “Who knows? I’m definitely not fast anymore.”
Friday’s qualifying session set the grid for the sprint race in Qatar, which starts at 14:00 UK time on Saturday. There is a further qualifying session later that day to set the grid for the grand prix.
Hamilton said: “When you are always back where I am it makes it almost impossible to compete for wins from there. But that’s the sprint. I’ll do what I can tomorrow.”
Asked whether there were any positives, Hamilton said: “Not particularly. The positive is the car is fast and George should be able to shoot for pole tomorrow.”
Hamilton’s team-mate at Ferrari will be Charles Leclerc, who is regarded by many in F1 as the fastest driver over one lap in the sport.