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Lewis Hamilton has said he is “definitely not fast any more” after another disappointing qualifying performance in his final season at Mercedes.<\/b><\/p>\n
Hamilton’s comments came after he qualified seventh for the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>‘s Lando Norris<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hamilton said: “Same as every other qualifying – not that great.<\/p>\n “I’m just slow. Same every weekend. Car felt relatively decent. You know, no issues. Not really much more to say.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Their comparison is 5-17 in qualifying sessions not including those for sprint races.<\/p>\n Russell’s average advantage over the season is 0.16secs a lap.<\/p>\n Until partnering Russell, Hamilton had never previously been out-qualified by his team-mate over their time together.<\/p>\n When it was put to him that the problem could not be him, Hamilton said: “Who knows? I’m definitely not fast anymore.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n