Hamilton, who is in his final season at Mercedes, was 0.399 seconds slower than teammate George Russell, who will start the sprint race second behind McLaren's Lando Norris.

"Same as every other qualifying - not that great. I'm just slow. Same every weekend. Car felt relatively decent. You know, no issues. Not really much more to say," Hamilton said after the qualifying.

Hamilton holds the all-time record for F1 pole positions with 104, well ahead of Michael Schumacher’s 68. However, in his recent pairing with teammate Russell, Hamilton has faced challenges. Over 22 races, including six sprint events, Hamilton has out-qualified Russell just six times. Excluding sprint sessions, the qualifying record stands at 5-17 in Russell’s favour, with an average 0.16-second advantage per lap for Russell this season.

Until teaming up with Russell, Hamilton had never been consistently out-qualified by a teammate. Reflecting on this, Hamilton commented humorously: "Who knows? I'm definitely not fast anymore."

Friday's qualifying set the sprint race grid for Saturday, followed by another session to determine the grand prix lineup. Despite setbacks, Hamilton remains optimistic, noting the car’s pace and backing Russell to contend for the pole.

"When you are always back where I am it makes it almost impossible to compete for wins from there. But that's the sprint. I'll do what I can tomorrow."

Asked whether there were any positives, Hamilton added: "Not particularly. The positive is the car is fast and George should be able to shoot for pole tomorrow."

Courtesy Media Group: IANS