Karun Chandhok feels one of the major reasons behind Lewis Hamilton’s issues with the car is the unpredictability of the Mercedes. The 2024 F1 season hit a new nadir for Hamilton as he was knocked out in Q2. The driver has not been confident in the car throughout the year.

He’s struggled to have the same level of confidence that his teammate George Russell has in the car and that has reflected in the results as well. Lewis Hamilton has been out-qualified by Russell in all three races. Even in the points standings, Hamilton languishes in 9th, while his teammate is 4th.

On Saturday, when he was once again out-qualified by his teammate George Russell, Lewis Hamilton alluded to the inconsistent nature of the car as one of the issues. Explaining this on a Sky Sports segment, Karun Chandhok felt that one of the things that stood out from the onboards was the inconsistent nature of the car. He said:

“It almost seems corner to corner in some ways. There are some parts when it looks like Lewis has got the balance and grip underneath him then the next time he gets there, it goes away. That’s an awful feeling as a driver. When you’re going down the straight and get onto the brakes, you want to know how your car is going to react and when you turn the wheel what are the feelings you get in terms of how your car moves.”
He added:

“If you’ve got any hesitation in terms of predicting how that movement is going to go, immediately you back off a bit and brake earlier or carry a bit less speed, then you start to bleed lap time. That’s what he’s going through now. He’s not able to clearly know what’s going to happen. Unfortunately, that’s the cycle they are in at the moment.”
Lewis Hamilton dejected after another bad session
Lewis Hamilton was quite dejected at missing out on Q3 in Australia. The driver pointed to the inconsistencies with the car that continue to play a mitigating role in the final result.

Looking back at qualifying, Hamilton admitted that the car felt great in FP3 and the team had found the sweet spot. As soon as the driver switched over to qualifying, he was mystified by the kind of struggle the team had. He said:

“It felt great in P3. It was strange because we were right there with these guys and we didn’t really understand why. But then go into qualifying, it’s just another inconsistency within the car, it really messes with the mind.”
Lewis Hamilton will be starting the race in P11. The driver would be hoping to make progress throughout the race and score a good haul of points.