The Mercedes driver will start outside the top 10 in the Qatar Sprint Grand Prix race.
Lewis Hamilton believes changes to track limits, along with car balance issues, led to his early exit in the shootout at the Qatar Sprint Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion will start 12th on the sprint at Lusail International Circuit, with teammate George Russell starting fourth.
His best effort in the first half:
25.626 were cleared at the end of SQ2 after exceeding the track limits at Turn 5, but even that wasn’t enough for a top 10 fastest time.
Hamilton spoke about the track’s limitations throughout the weekend, pointing out that Lando Norris’s deleted lap that gave him second place on the Grand Prix grid should have been retained.
Hamilton: We have never had track boundary changes like this before
Referring to the late changes made to the track at turns 12 and 13 to counter safety concerns raised by Pirelli, Hamilton said:
“We had never experienced anything like this before the [Shootout] qualifiers, so everyone was on the same page.
“I just had more trouble with balance and understeer. I really don’t understand why the car is the way it is.”
“I don’t know [why], the wind or the temperature was a little warmer, but the balance [of the car] was completely off balance.”
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