Lewis Hamilton has dismissed former team-mate Nico Rosberg's claim that Chinese Grand Prix qualifying was a 'disaster' as he qualified 18th.
Hamilton locked up on his final lap in Q3 at the hairpin, and lost time, failing to advance out of Q1 for the first time since the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix by less than a tenth in 18th place.
Former rival and Mercedes team-mate Rosberg, serving as a commentator for Sky Sports described the mistake as 'avoidable' and as a 'disaster' for the team.
However, seven-time champion Hamilton rejected that notion.
"I don’t blame anything on the team – I think it wasn’t one of my best qualifying laps," Hamilton told media including RacingNews365.
"I just couldn't make it around Turn 14 because there was a tailwind."
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Patrick Chapman
Thats pretty much what Rosberg said. An avoidable mistake. Plenty of other drivers made it around that corner with the same tailwind. He started off by blaming the setup changes that the team made and now it's the tailwind. Russel said the setup of the two cars was pretty similar. That's Russel speak for the cars were identical in setup. Russel made it through to Q3 without too many problems. Good luck to Ferrari next year dealing with Lewis.
flash
Finish P2 to Max in sprint, Then change the setup for Quali !! Makes sense to someone I suppose.
AlanCB
Oh Fred, oh Fred!!!! In all honesty, aren't you by now seriously questioning your decision to replace Carlos with Lewis???
Peter Buckley
He’s blocking entry to some really brilliant young talent trying to get into F1. And yes, Fred must be screaming at John for what he did.
CS_Jansen
If he won, it was because of him, if he lost it was because of the car, the team, the tailwind, the tyres, the ..... and if you are against him, you are racist.