Hamilton 'had chat with himself' after suffering Ferrari low

Lewis Hamilton has revealed to 'holding a discussion with himself' to emerge from his dark mood that prevailed after qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Hamilton started a lowly ninth on the grid at the Bahrain International Circuit, finishing six-tenths of a second behind Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc who was on the front row behind polesitter Oscar Piastri in his McLaren after Mercedes' George Russell was handed a one-place penalty.

The seven-time F1 champion's post-qualifying interview in the written media pen was barely audible as he mumbled answers to questions. He did, however, state he was "not doing a good enough job".

Former F1 driver and Sky Sports pundit Karun Chandhok went so far as to suggest that Hamilton's demeanour reminded him of how the 40-year-old came across last year in his final season with Mercedes.     

Hamilton ensured he did not let the situation affect him on Sunday as he recovered to finish ninth in the race, one place and 8.3s behind Leclerc.

"I went to my hotel, sorted it out, and had a discussion with myself," said Hamilton, speaking to media, including RacingNews365.

"I knew the next day would be a new day, so I tried to start more positively.

"Obviously, qualifying isn't good enough, but if I can get the car where it was, for example, in that middle stint [of the race], and I start delivering in qualifying - and you can see I can still race - so if I fix that, then I should have better weekends."

The weekend mirrored many of those from last season when Hamilton bemoaned his qualifying outings with Mercedes, only to recover during the race on Sunday.

As to whether he felt there was any carry-over in his qualifying performances from his time at Mercedes, Hamilton said: "It's a much different car but it's even worse qualifying this year than I had last year.

"I'll just keep keep trying. I'll get there. I'll get there eventually."