Hulkenberg defends Hamilton over extraordinary claim

Nico Hulkenberg has leapt to Lewis Hamilton’s defence that he is “just not fast anymore” after a tough ending to his Mercedes career. 

After sprint qualifying at the Qatar Grand Prix, some 0.399s down on then team-mate George Russell, Hamilton explained that the result was the: "same as every other qualifying - not that great. 

"I’m just slow, same every weekend. The car felt relatively decent. You know, no issues. Not really much more to say."

When pushed, he added: Who knows? I’m definitely not fast anymore."

Hamilton's struggles with the ground-effect cars, especially over one lap in qualifying, have been well-documented, with the generation of car not suiting his aggressive turn-in and braking driving style. 

Hulkenberg, who has raced against Hamilton 227 times, defended the seven-time champion for the "weak moment."

"It is just about timing, and I think he had a weak moment to be honest,” Hulkenberg told RacingNews365.

"He was disappointed after a poor qualifying, and obviously I don’t know the details [from Mercedes], but he was up against George who is a very fast and complete driver already. 

"He’s put in some really strong performances and has good momentum, so as a driver, even when you are as experienced as Lewis, it can get to you and annoy you as well. 

"We all want to challenge and beat our team-mates, but you saw in Las Vegas how good Lewis is, he came from P10 and you should never discount him. 

"He’s still going great."