Lewis Hamilton hits back at Nico Rosberg after old rival's "excuses" criticism

20 April 2024 , 19:01

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Lewis Hamilton swore as he reacted to his qualifying disappointment (Image: Sky Sports)

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has rubbished claims from former teammate Nico Rosberg that he is making excuses.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton has endured a difficult start to the 2024 calendar but looked set to bounce back after finishing second in the sprint race in China. However, he was unable to back that up with a convincing qualifying performance ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix.

The British race was unable to get out of the first round of qualifying and will start 18th on the grid in Shanghai. Teammate George Russell managed to finish in eighth place to outqualify Hamilton for the fourth time this term.

Hamilton made a mistake on his final flying lap and came in for criticism from Rosberg after telling Sky Sports that "s**t happens" and highlighting the "massive changes" to the set-up of his car. Speaking to RacingNews365, Hamilton accepted his part.

"I don’t blame anything on the team – I think it wasn’t one of my best qualifying laps," Hamilton told media. "I just couldn't make it around Turn 14 because there was a tailwind."

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Rosberg earlier described Hamilton's effort as a disaster. The 2016 F1 champion said: "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."

Rosberg was also frustrated with what he deemed Hamilton's excuses. The retired 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."

Elsewhere in qualifying, Max Verstappen took pole position to claim Red Bull's 100th in F1, while Sergio Perez joined him on the front row. Fernando Alonso beat Lando Norris to third place and Oscar Piastri finished ahead of both Ferrari vehicles. Russell was eighth with Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas making up the top 10.

Scott Trotter