Lewis Hamilton’s former teammate and nemesis from Mercedes has sharply criticised the renowned seven-time world champion for his frequent excuse-making when putting in poor performances in 2024 so far.
Entering the Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton robustly dismissed his detractors, saying they “talk sh*t” about him. His subsequent performance, however, was notable, securing the second position in both the sprint qualifying and the subsequent short race on Saturday.
Yet, by the time of the main qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, Hamilton had dramatically fallen to the eighteenth position, attributing this downturn to an experimental setup of his vehicle. “We have to (do that) at the moment,” he explained.
“In this sprint, George (Russell) and I had very similar cars, but then we tried to experiment – I’m one way, he’s the other,” Hamilton added.
During an interview with Sky Deutschland in Shanghai, Nico Rosberg, Hamilton’s former teammate and long-standing rival, expressed doubts about the validity of Hamilton’s explanations. “Lewis is 1-4 behind Russell in qualifying this year, and every time he says it’s the setup. To me that’s an excuse. Clearly he made a mistake – one that shouldn’t happen to a seven-time time world champion,” Rosberg critiqued.
George Russell also seemed to undermine Hamilton’s assertion of significantly different setups, stating, “We both went in the same direction. There’s only a slight difference. We both changed our setups a lot after the sprint, but in the same direction.”
The scrutiny around Hamilton intensifies as some speculate about Ferrari’s recent decision to replace the high-performing Carlos Sainz with Hamilton for 2025. “He’s also only half a part of the Mercedes family now,” Rosberg remarked. “At some point, Toto (Wolff) will be saying he’s not allowed to look at the data anymore.”
Robert Doornbos, a former Red Bull driver, described the situation as “embarrassing” for both Hamilton and Mercedes. Olav Mol, a commentator for Ziggo Sport, pointed out, “The difference between Russell and Hamilton is far too big. You don’t often see them in a pair like at Red Bull or McLaren.”
GMM
