Lewis Hamilton described Ferrari`s unexpected elimination of both cars early in Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying as `devastating`. This poor performance marks a new low point for the Italian team at their home race in Imola.
In a first for the historic Imola circuit, which has hosted 32 Grands Prix, neither Ferrari driver managed to reach the top 10 shootout (Q3). Charles Leclerc finished 11th, just ahead of Hamilton in 12th, both exiting in Q2. This is the team`s first failure to reach Q3 in nearly a year.
Competing at Imola in front of the passionate Tifosi fans for the first time as a Ferrari driver, Hamilton expressed his deep disappointment. Speaking after qualifying, he said, “Tough one. Ultimately, I feel super gutted, devastated that we weren`t able to get through.”
He felt the team had made positive progress leading up to qualifying. “I really feel like we had made so many positive steps through the weekend. The car was generally feeling better, brakes were better today, the balance was really nice.”
However, a crucial issue arose in Q2. “In Q2, run one felt decent, and then when we put the new tyres on, for some reason I just didn`t have any more grip and couldn`t go any faster,” he explained. “You see everyone else, they managed to switch the tyres on clearly. We definitely need to look into that.”
Hamilton elaborated on the emotional impact: “The reason it`s devastating is just to see everyone who`s worked so hard in the garage, to be in Italy for the first Italian race for me and Ferrari and to not make it to Q3, it`s definitely bittersweet.”
The Ferrari pair had been provisionally inside the top 10 before their final Q2 attempts but failed to improve their lap times on fresh soft tyres. This opened the door for drivers behind them, including Carlos Sainz (Williams), Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), to leapfrog them and secure places in Q3.
Team-mate Charles Leclerc was equally blunt about the situation. Asked if more performance could have been found, he stated, “I don`t think so… we are just nowhere at the moment.”
Leclerc continued, expressing frustration, “There`s not enough performance in the car, and I keep repeating myself. There`s just not the potential that we would hope inside this car at the moment, and we need to be better.”
Ferrari drivers face challenging race from grid positions
Starting from 11th and 12th, the Ferrari drivers anticipate a difficult Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Imola is known for being hard to overtake on its narrow 3.05-mile layout.
“It`s a very difficult track to overtake,” Hamilton commented. “I think tomorrow it will be hard to progress. We`ll have to battle hard to be able to figure a way to progress forwards.” He added that breaking into and moving up within the top 10 will be tough with many fast cars ahead.
Leclerc echoed Hamilton`s sentiment, describing the race as “Very, very hard.” Despite showing promising long-run pace in practice, he acknowledged the car`s current limitations. “But I can fight as much as I want, but at the moment I cannot do miracles. This is what there is in the car. I`m trying to extract the maximum out of it. That`s it.” The team`s primary goal will be to recover points and minimize the damage to their Constructors` Championship standing.
