Lewis Hamilton to 'pray' after difficult Ferrari qualifying

Lewis Hamilton says he will "do a lot of praying" overnight after a difficult Miami Grand Prix qualifying session.

After expertly calling the strategy to finish third in the Sprint - his best result since winning the Chinese GP Sprint - Hamilton was dumped out in Q2 in grand prix qualifying, taking 12th on the grid.

He struggled on the brakes at Turn 17, locking up twice, and losing time on his final lap which was not good enough to break into the top 10, with team-mate Charles Leclerc only eighth following his DNS in the Sprint, crashing on the recon lap to the grid after aquaplanning off in the rain.

Hamilton labelled the Sprint as better than qualifying, and felt that expected rain could actually provide some solace, even though the SF-25 struggled in the rain in the Sprint.

"The Sprint race was better than qualifying, but we need some upgrades, we need some improvements, we've got lots of things that need to be better," Hamilton told media including RacingNews365.

"I am trying everything, we are trying everything and the smallest bit of time today meant I was out, and if I put on a new tyre, I would have been eighth or ninth, so it doesn't make a huge difference.

"But the fact is, we are trying. 

"The car was not good in the wet [in the Sprint], so I don't know if it will be tomorrow, and I'll do a lot of praying tonight, there is an opportunity for sure if it started out dry and then went wet, that could be kind of neat, but you've got to be lucky as well."