Lewis Hamilton was left fuming after Saturday’s Italian Grand Prix qualifying, blaming himself for a series of errors during the final top-ten shootout that left him only sixth on Sunday’s grid.
In what turned out to be one of the tightest qualifying sessions of the season, with McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari all in contention for pole, while Red Bull surprisingly lagged behind, Hamilton ended Q3 0.186s off poleman Lando Norris.
It was but a small margin for the seven-time world champion but one that reflected the incredibly tight spread between the front-runners who included George Russell who ended up third.
Hamilton, who had shown strong pace throughout the weekend, admitted that his qualifying performance was far from satisfactory.
"I'm furious, absolutely furious, because I could have been on pole,” he told Sky F1. “I think I could have been at least on the front row, and I just didn't do the job at the end.
"I lost a tenth and a half into Turn 1 and 2, and then I lost another tenth at the last corner, so no one to blame but myself."
"Just absolutely ridiculous from my side, completely unacceptable,” he later added. “And this is totally me, nobody else."
The qualifying result marked another setback for Hamilton in his intra-team battle with Russell who has consistently outqualified Hamilton in recent races. However, the gap between the two Mercedes drivers had narrowed in Monza.
Hamilton acknowledged his difficulties in qualifying this season, but remained optimistic about his chances in the race, praising his team's efforts and the improvements they've made with the car.
"I'll probably be kicking myself a bit over the next couple of hours and then ultimately, I've got to move forwards.
"We have a good race car. The team has done an amazing job this weekend. The car's been feeling so much better than yesterday, than last the race.”
He nevertheless added a note of regret about not being able to deliver a better result for Mercedes.
"And the team deserved better. Maybe they'll get that with Kimi," he said, referring to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who will replace him next year at the Brackley squad.
Looking ahead to the race, Hamilton acknowledged the difficulty of overtaking on Monza's high-speed straights, especially with the Ferraris ahead of him.
"That's the chance I've got fighting for a race win out the window," he acknowledged. "Tomorrow I've just got to try and recover as much as I can, and see if I can get past the Ferraris and try challenging to get a podium."
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