SÃO PAULO — A deflated Lewis Hamilton bemoaned “another write-off weekend” in his Ferrari season after a difficult Saturday at Interlagos circuit.
Hamilton, a three-time winner of Brazil’s Formula 1 race, where he won the first of his seven world titles in 2008, finished seventh in Saturday’s sprint, but could only qualify 13th for Sunday’s race.
The British driver has still not scored a grand prix podium since joining Ferrari from Mercedes this year.
“I’m not expecting anything to be honest, but we’ll see what happens,” Hamilton said on Saturday night. “It’s another write-off weekend I guess.
“I’ve been trying it all year but it just continues to go bad every weekend, but I’ll get up tomorrow and try again.”
Lewis Hamilton endured another difficult Saturday in Brazil. Andy Hone/LAT Images
When asked if the sprint had taught him anything he could use in the race, he said simply: “Not really, just that you can’t overtake.”
Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc will start the race from third position after a much stronger showing in qualifying.
Leclerc has never finished on the Interlagos podium but feels confident of ending that on Sunday.
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“I’ve had years where the car felt a little bit better than this year,” Leclerc said. “But we’re starting in a good position, so yeah, if we manage to stay P3 or P2 or P1 after the start, then that will help us.
“This weekend has been a very, very challenging weekend, and I think that hides a little bit the struggles that we’ve had this weekend. But in race pace, we seem to be pretty strong.
“We were stuck behind Fernando [Alonso, in the sprint], but I think the pace was pretty good on the one lap I had in clear air. So I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
