Martin Brundle has shared how he thought Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton fared in qualifying ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen will start the race on pole position after picking up an exceptional tow, with Nico Hulkenberg the star of the day after reaching Q3 in his Haas.
Commentating on the race for Sky Sports F1, Brundle gave his verdict on the seven-time world champion.
Brundle gives Hamilton verdict after Bahrain GP qualifying
The 2024 season has started as many would have predicted with Max Verstappen starting at the front of the grid.
Much of pre-season was spent seeing who would be best of the rest in the paddock.
It turned out to be a two-way shootout between Ferrari and Mercedes with the Italian manufacturer coming out on top.
Carlos Sainz was rapid in practice before Charles Leclerc put his car on the front row of the grid.
He should arguably be on pole after doing the fastest time on Friday in Q2 but couldn’t hook up an equally good lap when it counted.
George Russell did a fantastic job splitting the two Ferraris in qualifying but Brundle believes Lewis Hamilton will be frustrated with his final lap in Bahrain.
The 39-year-old will start alongside Hulkenberg on the fifth row of the grid.
While he said in an interview after the race he had set his car up with more focus on Saturday’s race, he would still like to be closer to the front of the grid.
Hamilton with work to do in Sakhir
Reflecting on Hamilton’s qualifying performance in Bahrain, Brundle said: “Yeah, Lewis will be frustrated with that he did a 29.7 again as he did in Q2, he wasn’t able to – very unusually for him – pull a quarter of a second out of the bag or something that would have made so much difference for him.”
Hamilton has a very tough route to the podium if that’s his aim for the race in Bahrain.
It’s hard to know what McLaren have up their sleeve when it comes to race pace with Lando Norris yet to do a lengthy race run.
Fernando Alonso is always incredibly difficult to overtake and Sergio Perez in the fastest car on the grid is up next.
Then, it’s the two Ferraris and his teammate if he reaches that point but Formula 1 races very rarely end up being as straightforward as that.
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