Hamilton: “I know I’ve still got it”

Lewis Hamilton insists that he has “still got it”, despite the current struggles he is having in extracting pace from his Mercedes F1 car.

The seven-time world champion continues to face frustrations in getting the most out of himself in qualifying, as he again finished adrift of his team-mate George Russell in qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix.

While Russell put his car on the front row, Hamilton ended up sixth on the grid, 0.436 seconds back.

This was a bigger gap than the 0.399 deficit in sprint qualifying that had left him confessing that “I’m definitely not fast anymore.”

But while not hiding from the fact that he has had a difficult season and things were definitely not gelling as he was hoping, Hamilton said on Saturday that deep down he felt he still had all the potential he needed to deliver in F1.

“Yeah, I know I’ve still got it,” he said. “Just the car won’t go any faster, I definitely know I’ve got it still. It’s not a question in my mind. [But I’m] looking forward to the end.”

While Hamilton again said that his Mercedes car was feeling “decent” in qualifying, he still believed there was no hiding from the fact that the deficit to Russell was still quite big.

“I’m slow,” he said. “I’m half a second off my team-mate in the same car.”

Asked if the remarks about his pace were a broader thing beyond just this weekend, he said: “No, it’s been all year.”

Hamilton offered no answers as to what was not working for him right now, as he also suggested that there would be no immediate solution that would unlock something before the end of the season.

“It’s not possible to change it. Right now,” he admitted.

Hamilton finished sixth in the earlier sprint race, after showing some strong speed – and getting involved in a battle with future Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

And after slightly regretting not having driven more robustly, he vowed to play things a bit tougher if there were repeat circumstances on Sunday.

“Yeah, it was alright,” he said. “It was fair. Nice and close. I mean, I didn’t defend: I should have defended, but I didn’t.

“He was a bit quicker than me and he was probably going to come by anyway. So if I’m in the same position again tomorrow, I’ll put more of a fight out for sure.”