Two major reasons behind Hamilton's slump qualifying result, claims F1 analyst

F1 analyst Peter Windsor commented on Lewis Hamilton’s tough qualifying session in Hungary, which will see him start from 13th on the grid, while his teammate managed to secure Ferrari’s first pole position of the season.

Another early and painful elimination was already hard to swallow, but after seeing his teammate take pole position on a track he himself had admitted isn’t one of his best, Lewis Hamilton is likely left with plenty of doubts and questions ahead of today’s race.

The Briton appeared quite disheartened at the end of a qualifying session that saw him eliminated in Q2 with the 13th fastest time, while the Monegasque driver even managed to outsmart both McLarens in the final moments.

Lewis Hamilton in Hungary

Windsor weighs in on another difficult day for Hamilton

Analyzing qualifying on his YouTube channel, Peter Windsor also took a moment to comment on the comparison between the two Ferrari drivers: ''Lewis Hamilton did not make it out of Q2 in the car effectively that Charles Leclerc then put on the pole.''

''Lewis came into his garage disgruntled of course because he'd been very near Charles. Charles had been 10th as they went into the second part of Q2 and Lewis 11th, one tenth behind him. But Charles vaulted up to P5 whereas Lewis did not and he didn't get out of Q2.''

Windsor then pointed out how timing in Q2 was crucial — both for Leclerc’s advancement to Q3 and for Hamilton’s elimination.

''It's an interesting little cameo because Charles had got on the radio before the last phase in Q2 saying 'look I don't care about anything else get me out of the garage I want to have as few cars in front of me as possible.' There was a bit of rain that had been falling at the beginning of Q2.''

''As it was, the track got very quick at the back end of Q2 and Charles, as I say, did respond to that and he was something like fifth quickest, whereas Lewis did not. So the big question is why Lewis was saying that and why he was not able to get into Q3.''

According to Windsor, there are two main reasons behind the Briton’s failure to reach Q3: ''One, he caught Colapinto going into turn 6-7, which is quite an important part, and he was slightly offline in order to get into (turn) 6 relatively cleanly.''

''And as a result, his mid-corner speed in turn 6-7 was something like 5 km/h slower than Charles on that lap, and slower than he'd been in his first run in Q2.''

The other, he noted, is the difference in top speed: ''As they're going down just before the braking area into turn one. Charles Leclerc 322, Lewis Hamilton 318. Look to me, they're running about the same amount of downforce, so maybe that's an engine thing.''

''What is it? This is a bizarre difference, use that word twice now, between Lewis and Charles Leclerc in top speed. Top speed is not that significant around Hungary, but for one lap when you're trying to get from Q2 to Q3 it's extremely significant.''

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