Lewis Hamilton has provided a deflated response regarding his performance at the Chinese Grand Prix.
The weekend started positive for the Mercedes driver, after an impressive wet weather sprint shootout qualifying which saw him take P2.
Buoyed by his sudden competitiveness he overtook Lando Norris for P1 and led for the first nine laps.
However, the British driver suffered his worst qualifying session since Saudi Arabia in 2022, where he failed to make Q1.
Lewis Hamilton finished second in the sprint race
Lewis Hamilton failed to get out of Q1 in qualifying
A weekend to forget for Lewis Hamilton
Starting in P18 for the race, Hamilton failed to make gains on the soft tyre stuck behind Esteban Ocon until a VSC was called.
The safety car freed Hamilton to pit for hard tyres, where he managed to make it into the points and finish ninth overall.
Hamilton scraping for points seems a far cry from when the world champion used to compete for race wins and podiums, claiming he was ‘grateful’ for P9.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called today’s performance ‘not good enough’ and seemed less than enthusiastic about upgrades for Miami.
“I’m grateful to get into the points. I didn’t expect a lot more this weekend,” he said to Sky Sports F1.
Hamilton finished P9 at the Chinese GP
“Hopefully we have a step forward coming at the next race. Until then, we will be back at the factory next week and try and position the car better for Miami and have a better weekend.”