SHANGHAI : Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton failed to make it out of the first part of qualifying for the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix, despite having finished second in Saturday’s sprint.
The 39-year-old Briton had told reporters after his second place finish behind Max Verstappen in the sprint race that he had missed the feeling of lining up on the front row and forgotten what it felt like to lead a race.
The Mercedes driver did not think he would be challenging for the front row on Sunday but 18th place was far worse than expected.
“I made massive changes into qualifying,” Hamilton told Sky Sports.
“(The car) wasn’t too bad in some places. I couldn’t stop in turn 14.
“It is what it is.”
His team mate George Russell qualified eighth on the grid for Sunday, with Verstappen taking Red Bull’s 100th pole in F1.
Hamilton had said he had found out a lot about the car from the sprint and would make adjustments to the setup ahead of qualifying.
“This morning George and I had very similar cars but then this afternoon, we’re trying to experiment still with the car so I went one way, a long way, and then he went the other way just to see if we could find anything,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton’s former Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, the 2016 world champion, said 18th place was “seriously painful”.
“He had a great lap until then,” he added. “It was really unnecessary to push the limit and as a seven-time world champion that is a mistake which should be unavoidable.”
