Lewis Hamilton has been slammed by former team-mate Nico Rosberg for making excuses for his poor results.
Hamilton's best Grand Prix result so far this season is seventh, though he did finish second in Saturday's Shanghai Sprint race. It raised hopes that the Mercedes driver would be able to compete for pole in qualifying for the main event, but those were quickly dashed.
He made a mistake on his final flying lap of Q1 and had to settle for 18th on the grid as a result. Team-mate George Russell fared a little better, reaching Q3 before going eighth fastest.
Speaking after the session, Hamilton told Sky Sports that "s**t happens" and claimed he had made "massive changes" to the set-up of his car, as he and Russell diverged in a bid to figure out what the best would be for the team.
He has said similar things after other disappointments this season. But former Mercedes driver Rosberg thinks the fact Russell has fared so much better so far this year shows that his old team-mate is making excuses.
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The German former racer said: "George has mostly been in front of Lewis. 4-1 now, in qualifying. Lewis tends to say, 'Yeah but we have different set-ups and such a big car difference'. That is his excuse, so far this year.
"Each time he says that, George says, 'The last time I checked, the cars are pretty similar'... He has gone again, for that. So it's interesting." Reflecting on Hamilton's mistake, Rosberg went on to suggest that a driver of the Briton's calibre should be immune to such errors.
The 2016 F1 champion added: "That is painful. That is seriously painful. Eighteenth position, Lewis. You know that the wind is coming from the back. He'd had a great lap until then. It was really unnecessary to push the limit so much.
"For a seven-time world champion, that's a mistake which should be avoidable. He had the brake balance too far forward. He lost at least four tenths in that moment, which easily would have put him through. Easily. That is a disaster."
Max Verstappen took pole position with ease - Red Bull's 100th in F1. Team-mate Sergio Perez joined him on the front row while Fernando Alonso beat Lando Norris to third place and Oscar Piastri also finished ahead of the two Ferrari cars. Russell was eighth with Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas also in the top 10.
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