Lewis Hamilton was baffled by his lack of pace during the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday as his frustrating debut season with Ferrari hit a new low point.
A sixth-placed finish wasn't bad, even for a seven-time Formula 1 world champion but Hamilton again finished behind teammate Charles Leclerc, who was third, and had to endure his team telling him to get out the way for Leclerc.
Hamilton was blocking the much faster Leclerc over several early laps until the team order came over the radio. Worse was to come near the end, however, when Nico Hulkenberg overtook Hamilton in his Sauber.
Hamilton said his car was unbalanced, he said: "I have no idea why it was so bad. That was the worst race I have experienced, balance-wise."
Speaking later in Ferrari's race report, the Briton added: "Today [Sunday] was definitely not what I was hoping for. I felt good going into the race, after a pretty good qualifying and the car performing better.
"But the balance felt off throughout the race and we lacked pace from the start. We don’t have an explanation for it, so we’ll have to go away and look into the data and any underlying issues.
"Congratulations to Charles, he did a great job and fully deserved the podium," Hamilton concluded.
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur commented on Hamilton's Spanish Grand Prix, he said: "Lewis had strong pace until the final stint, where he reported some balance issues.
"We’ll look into it, but it was important that still managed to bring home some points," the Frenchman added.
The only bright spot for Hamilton since he left Mercedes for Ferrari this season was his sprint win in China. That, however, was followed by a double disqualification for him and Leclerc in the Grand Prix the next day.
His best race finish this season was fourth in Imola.
(Reporting by Joseph Wilson, Additional reporting by GrandPrix247)
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