Lewis Hamilton’s first qualifying session in front of Ferrari’s home fans ended in major disappointment after a heartbreaking early exit.
The seven-time world champion and teammate Charles Leclerc will start the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in 11th and 12th for the Scuderia.
Ferrari were under pressure to bounce back on home soil in Italy after their two drivers finished P8 and P7 respectively in Miami.
It continued a hugely difficult season for the Prancing Horse, with just one podium and a solitary Sprint win across six race weekends.
Despite the promise of upgrades, F1’s most successful and famous team will now have both drivers starting at Imola outside the top ten.
Leclerc could only manage 11th at the end of Q2, while Hamilton’s best effort was one and a half tenths behind in a spot below.
The Ferrari duo weren’t the only surprise exit in the second part of qualifying, with Italy’s local favourite Kimi Antonelli also out early.
Mercedes’ Hamilton successor is due to commence the race weekend in 13th – his second non-top 10 start of his rookie season.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will now mark Brit Hamilton’s lowest starting position on the grid since his switch from Mercedes.
His latest qualifying struggles comes after the 40-year-old admitted he under-estimated the scale of his move from the Silver Arrows.
Aside from a Sprint pole converted to win in China, Hamilton has only out-qualified Leclerc once in a grand prix so far this season.
“I anticipated it would be very tough, because I’ve joined a team before,” Hamilton said this week.
“I came in with a really open mind. I didn’t know how tough it was going to be. I knew it was going to be challenging. It’s as challenging as it could ever be on all fronts.
“There’s still a long, long way to go for the championship.
“From all the years of experience, when you’re over 100 points behind at this point in the season, with a car that’s up against a car that’s quite dominant, you have to assume that you’re not necessarily fighting for the win in the championship.
“But things could turn around. We’ve never seen that happen.
“We want to get closer to those things. And as I said, at the moment, we can’t shut the door to any idea. We have to keep our eyes and our heads up. We have to stay vigilant. We have to push with the expectation and the goal of winning.”
More to follow…
