Lewis Hamilton expressed intense frustration after qualifying 16th for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the Formula 1 season. The Ferrari driver has endured a challenging year, his first with the team, failing to reach the podium in any of the 23 races so far and currently sitting sixth in the championship standings. This marks the third consecutive qualifying session where Hamilton was eliminated in the first segment.”We’ve put a lot back on the car. The car was great today,” Hamilton stated to Sky Sports F1 following the session. Visibly upset,he added to Sky Italy,”I have no words to describe the feeling I have inside right now. an unbearable amount of anger and rage. I have nothing more to say about it.”
Simultaneously occurring,teammate Charles Leclerc outperformed Hamilton for the 19th time this season,advancing to the final qualifying session and securing fifth place on the grid.
“I’m happy with my lap in Q3, I think it couldn’t have been more,” leclerc said on Ferrari’s website. “The team did a really good job turning things around this weekend. We made some changes to the setup between the second and third practice and it paid off.” Leclerc aims to capitalize on the setup changes in the race,stating,”I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race to see if the changes help us get ahead. We can’t get our hopes up too high because the cars in front are very fast.It’s up to us to maximize our result tomorrow and I’ll do my best to attack at the start and get the last podium for our team this year.”
