Hamilton reveals unusual EXCUSE for frustrating Mercedes performance

Lewis Hamilton has provided an unusual excuse for his team's poor performance during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Following two successive race victories, Mercedes looked to be well off the pace as Hamilton qualified in fifth, and team-mate George Russell all the way down in 17th.

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The Silver Arrows were unusually weak around the Hungaroring, given Mercedes have been on pole for four out of the last five races there.

The unpredictability caused by interchanging conditions hampered Russell, as did a fuelling mistake from his Mercedes team.

Hamilton, on the other hand, breezed through Q1 before the pace seemed to fall away from his W15 car, and he ended up over six tenths behind pole sitter Lando Norris.

Mercedes' lacklustre performance

Now, Hamilton has offered a reason for why his performance seemed to drop between sessions, pointing towards the weather.

Saturday's session started unexpectedly with rain in the air, before normal humid conditions were restored, making Q3 much more of a dry affair.

Hamilton has now pulled one back in his head-to-head record with Russell, who leads the seven-time world champion 10-3 in qualifying sessions for the 2024 season. Nonetheless, Hamilton was not happy with Mercedes' all-round performance.

"We came to try and be at the front and you can never be satisfied," he explained to Sky Sports F1 post-session.

"I think we did an ok job and I think we’ve done everything we could.

"We got the car in a relatively decent place, but when it gets hot we’re just not particularly fast.

"When the session started it was much cooler and we were rapid. As soon as the temperature picked up, others got faster and we got slower – or didn’t get any faster at least."

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