Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver ever in Formula 1 in terms of qualifying, with a whopping 103 pole positions to his name, the last of which came at Jeddah in the penultimate round of the fantastic 2021 championship.

But a little over four months later, it was a remarkably different affair for the Briton, as he struggled his way to a lowly 16th place in qualifying for the 2022 Saudi Arabian GP, a shocking result considering his last Q1 exit was in 2017 – due to an accident.

Speaking to media at the circuit after the session, Hamilton explained that his lack of pace was mainly down to a “snappy” rear end on his Mercedes W13, and believes a setup change between Free Practice 3 (FP3) and Qualifying was the main reason for the problems:

“It was looking good in FP3, (then we) tried to progress in the same direction – maybe went too far – and the car was just undriveable, so nervous.

“I just struggled with the balance of the car, and (it’s) not where we want it to be it. The car just wasn’t underneath me in this session. In practice it was OK, but I don’t understand. It was just difficult to drive in qualifying, way more difficult than ever before.”

Hamilton’s struggles were all the more surprising after his new team-mate, George Russell, was able to easily place his Mercedes in the higher placings.

“When we have the car as quick as it is, it is disappointing that I’m not able to deliver with my team-mate, but I’ll try my best tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t know how different the cars are in the setup, but the car was undriveable with the setup that I chose. It was my decision; I made some setup changes. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it, but it was very unstable. I don’t know how it’s gonna be tomorrow, it’s a long, long way back.”

All the cars enter parc fermé at the start of Q1, meaning the fundamental setup of the car cannot be changed between Saturday and Sunday, unless the team breaks the seal and has to start from the pit lane, to be allowed to make significant changes on the car. This is a consideration for Mercedes, according to Hamilton, as he believes his car in the current setup won’t allow him to make much progress on Sunday’s grand prix:

“I’ve got the same car as I had in qualifying, so I don’t anticipate moving that much forwards, but I’ll give it everything,” he said. “Maybe I’ll start from the pit lane tomorrow, because the car was undriveable in that session, so I don’t know whether starting where I am is gonna be worth it.”

Lewis Hamilton on the paddock of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit - Image by Hasan Bratic - MotorLAT

Hamilton said his problems with the car were such that “it’s a wonder” he didn’t crash into one of the always close walls at the Jeddah street circuit:

“I had a problem with the car. All of a sudden, I had no rear end, and I was struggling through all the corners. The car was snapping out in all the high-speed (corners). It’s a wonder that I wasn’t one of the drivers in the wall.

“It doesn’t feel great, but you live and you learn.”

And even though he didn’t crash, the Briton was very worried with the accident of fellow driver Mick Schumacher, labelling it as “terrifying” and “the biggest crash” in Jeddah so far:

“That corner (turn 11) it’s 170mph, so it’s terrifying to see what’s happened. I hope he’s OK, but that’s the biggest crash we’ve seen here.”

After the lengthy meetings and the tension created around the paddock after a missile attack near the track on Friday, Hamilton admitted he is “looking forward” to go home:

“I’m looking forward to going home.”