Formula 1 Italian GP

Hamilton "furious" for wasting shot at Monza F1 pole

Hamilton rues two costly qualifying mistakes that have demoted him to sixth on a tight Monza starting grid

Filip Cleeren

Edited: Aug 31, 2024, 8:44 PM

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Mercedes Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton says he is "absolutely furious" with himself for wasting a shot at pole during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.

The Monza Q3 shootout was one of F1's closest qualifying sessions this season, with McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari all vying for pole while Red Bull failed to qualify higher than the fourth row.

McLaren's Lando Norris ultimately backed up his perfect Zandvoort weekend by taking his fifth career pole, just one tenth ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri and Mercedes driver George Russell.

FP3 pacesetter Hamilton qualified just 0.186s behind Norris, but the gaps were so minimal that his best effort was still only good enough for sixth behind the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

When asked by Sky Sports F1 how he felt at being so close to the pole time yet relatively far behind on the grid, the 2025 Ferrari driver replied: "Oh, I'm furious.

"Absolutely furious, because I could have been on pole. I think I could have been at least on the front row, and I just didn't do the job at the end.

"I lost a tenth and a half into Turn 1 and 2, and then I lost another tenth at the last corner, so no one to blame but myself."

Speaking to the print media, he added: "Just absolutely ridiculous from my side, completely unacceptable. And this is totally me, nobody else."

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15, in the pit lane

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

After outqualifying Russell in the final two races before the summer break, Hamilton has lost out again in the Netherlands and Italy, with Russell restoring a 12-4 lead in their intra-team qualifying duel.

Hamilton acknowledged his one-lap struggles this year: "Qualifying has been my weakness for a minute now and I can't figure it out, so I'll keep trying.

"I'll probably be kicking myself a bit over the next couple of hours and then ultimately, I've got to move forwards. "We have a good race car. The team has done an amazing job this weekend. The car's been feeling so much better than yesterday, than last the race.

"And the team deserved better. Maybe they'll get that with Kimi," he glumly added, referring to Andrea Kimi Antonelli being officially announced as his replacement next year.

While overtaking is not impossible around Monza's flat-out blasts, Hamilton conceded getting past the Ferraris to fight Russell for a podium would be difficult.

"That's the chance I've got fighting for a race win out the window," he admitted. "Tomorrow I've just got to try and recover as much as I can, and see if I can get past the Ferraris and try challenging to get a podium."

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Previous article Russell: Antonelli's FP1 crash "put me on the back foot" for Monza qualifying

Next article Verstappen "never experienced something like" Monza qualifying balance swing

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