Lewis Hamilton ‘gutted’ after losing out to George Russell in Spanish GP qualifying

Lewis Hamilton admitted that he was ‘a little bit gutted’ after being outqualified by George Russell ahead of this year’s Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday. The 37-year-old was beaten by his Mercedes team-mate yet again but will be hoping to put things right by climbing up the order and challenging for a podium finish at the very least over the course of the 66-lap contest at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Hamilton has been outperformed by Russell in qualifying on three separate occasions so far this season and will be desperate to beat the 24-year-old by producing a strong showing when the five red lights go out to start Sunday’s race. He revealed after Saturday’s session that he was slightly disappointed to have finished behind his fellow Mercedes driver once again but thanked his team for unlocking some much-needed pace with their hard work at their Brackley headquarters over the last two weeks.

“The team have done a great job so a big, big thank you to everyone for keeping pushing back at the factory,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“We don’t have bouncing in a straight line which is a huge improvement for us and the car has generally been nicer this weekend. We do have some bouncing through the high-speed corners so we just need to keep working on it and see if we can gain some downforce elsewhere.

“I am a little bit gutted because I want to be further up ahead. You have obviously seen George is able to put it up further ahead than I but I will keep pushing.

“Yesterday was our best race pace that we have had so if we could start racing with the Ferraris, for example, that would be amazing.

“I think the Red Bulls look like they might be quickest, but we look like we could maybe compete with the Ferraris tomorrow and that is a big step for us.”

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