Hamilton admits Mercedes is “hardest” car to get right in his entire F1 career

The seven-time world champion qualified fifth for Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix as teammate George Russell put his Mercedes on the front row of the grid. 

Russell missed out on pole position by just 0.072s to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, while Hamilton was over four tenths further back as he finished behind the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris’ McLaren. 

Hamilton said he regretted his set-up choice after making "big changes" to his car overnight after Friday practice. 

"It is the hardest car that I've ever driven to get right,” Hamilton conceded after qualifying. 

Hamilton has already expressed that he is “counting down the days until February” when Mercedes launch their 2024 challenger, which is set to be a major departure from their frustrating and unpredictable W14. 

The Briton was happy to accept that Russell has simply done a better job than him so far this weekend. 

"Really happy for George, I think he did a mega job. He's just been connected with the car all weekend,” Hamilton said. 

"It started good for us yesterday [Friday] and it's not so good today [Saturday].”

The 38-year-old did claim his first pole in two years in Hungary earlier this season but has not won a race since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. 

And Hamilton doubts he will be able to challenge the front in Singapore. 

”For me, it's just - yeah. See what I can do," he added "If I can get further up then great.

"The car was good yesterday on a long run but I changed the car overnight and it's now - I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow [Sunday] with the car."