Lewis Hamilton was mystified by a handling imbalance which led to his elimination in the first round of qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“For sure there’s something wrong,” he told media including RaceFans after failing to progress to Q2 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. “I don’t know what it is so I can’t comment. I had no rear end.”
His team mate George Russell lapped over a second faster as he progressed to the second round of qualifying.
“I don’t know what George did set-up-wise,” said Hamilton. “The car was feeling good in [final practice] and I made a couple of adjustments. But I had no rear end, the rear was so loose.”
He said he hadn’t encountered such a severe handling imbalance before. “It’s never been that bad.”
Having qualified 16th, the Mercedes driver said he may choose to start the race from the pit lane so he can make more dramatic set-up changes to improve the handling of his car.
“It’s probably going to be a so-so race,…