Lewis Hamilton 'absolutely furious' as Mercedes star vents anger following Italian Grand Prix qualifying
Lewis Hamilton was not happy with his performance on Saturday
SKY SPORTS
Lewis Hamilton was 'absolutely furious' with himself after finishing sixth in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes star, who is leaving for Ferrari next season, blew his chance at finishing on the top row as McLaren's Lando Norris topped the grid.
Hamilton nipped ahead of Max Verstappen, with Red Bull's troubles continuing with their star man down in seventh.
But that was still not good enough for the seven-time world champion, who lambasted his own performance.
Lewis Hamilton was not happy with his performance on Saturday
PA
He told Sky Sports: "I am furious, absolutely furious. I could have been on pole, at least on the front row. I just didn't do the job.
"I lost a tenth and a half into Turn One, and then a tenth in the last corner. No one to blame by myself.
"Qualifying has been my weakness for a minute now and I can't figure it out. I will keep trying.
"I will be kicking myself for the next couple of hours but I need to move forward. We have a good race car, the team have done an amazing job.
"The car felt better and the team deserve better. Maybe they will get that with Kimi [Antonelli]."
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Verstappen was also not happy with how he drove, hitting out at his car and telling Red Bull it was 'not driveable'.
He said: "The car is very difficult to drive and find a good balance. If you have one issue and try to fix that, then there is another issue.
"It's not very driveable, let's put it like that. Q2 was not too bad Q3 felt very bad again - I had a lot of understeer on both tyres.
"I lost a lot of lap time, I couldn't really push the tyres, so struggling a lot with that for a reason I can't understand.
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Lewis Hamilton finished sixth in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix
PA
Hamilton's successor at Mercedes has already been named, though Kimi Antonelli had a nightmare start to life in Formula One after crashing on Friday.
Meanwhile, Mercedes' other driver George Russell finished third and was over the moon with his position.
"It was great," he explained. "Ending up P3, a little bit better than I expected because it was a really tough session, Q1 and Q2.
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"Fortunately we saved it until the end. Not too far behind the McLarens.
"They’re so fast at the moment. We’re working so hard to catch them up, but I’m super happy with third.
"I think it’s going to be a tight battle. Everybody’s so close out there. It’s so exciting for F1. We’ve all been waiting for this competition and knowing if you do a great job, you’ve got a chance of victory. So, I’m pretty pumped for tomorrow.
"I’ll get some pizza tonight to fuel me up and a bit of extra weight, so I’m not too light tomorrow, and hopefully we can fight for a good result."
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