LEWIS HAMILTON has revealed Alpine ace Pierre Gasly left him gobsmacked after strolling over post-sprint to tell him just how awful Ferrari’s car looked in Qatar.
Ferrari’s weekend got off to a nightmare start, with Charles Leclerc crawling home 13th in the sprint and Hamilton slumping to 17th in a car both drivers say has somehow got worse.
Crossing the line, a baffled Hamilton radioed his team: “I don’t know how, but we’ve made the car worse.”
The Brit had already endured a miserable qualifying, lining up 18th — faster only than Gasly and the Frenchman’s rookie teammate Franco Colapinto.
But Gasly, who spent most of the sprint staring at the back of Hamilton’s Ferrari, couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Hamilton revealed: “Pierre came up to me afterwards and was like.
‘Yo, you look so bad.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, I know… no s**t, Sherlock.”
It’s a brutal blow for Ferrari, who look set for yet another season without a single grand prix win.
Their third in the 2020s, while backmarkers Alpine sit rock bottom of the standings with just 22 points.
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A chaotic onboard clip of Leclerc’s opening lap, showing him wrestling the Ferrari just to keep it on the track, was doing the rounds on social media within minutes of the chequered flag.
Leclerc didn’t sugar-coat it either.
Asked if the car had somehow deteriorated since sprint quali, he sighed, “It definitely did.
“I have no idea how that happened from qualifying to today.”
And when quizzed on what needs fixing before Sunday’s race, Hamilton didn’t hesitate: “I’ll be here all day.”
The seven-time champ arrived in Maranello with sky-high expectations but Ferrari’s early-season hype has evaporated, with McLaren, Red Bull and even Mercedes streaking ahead.
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