Lewis Hamilton UNLEASHED! F1 legend's brutal verdict on Qatar GP

Following months of downbeat responses during interviews, seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has now unleashed his spirit and taken aim at certain aspects of the sport.

His 18th-place qualifying performance in Qatar was the second successive weekend that he has been knocked out in Q1, and this time he was unable to recover to a points-paying position in the race.

Hamilton finished 12th, after having finished 17th in the sprint race, and now faces a battle to claim sixth spot in the drivers' championship, with teenage rookie Kimi Antonelli hunting him down with one race to go.

And after the race, Hamilton took aim at a mandatory two-stop rule that was implemented ahead of the Qatar GP to minimise the effects of the greater stress placed on tyres in the hot, desert conditions.

An early safety car in the race meant that almost every car pitted on exactly the same lap throughout the 57-lap race, something that clearly frustrated Hamilton.

In his post-race interview, Hamilton said: "Frustrating, and then everyone's stopping on the same lap. I mean, what a... not a great race to be racing."

Can Hamilton achieve success in 2026?

A lot of talk throughout Hamilton's first year at Ferrari has been centred around the fact that things may improve in 2026, with Ferrari potentially able to benefit from wholesale regulation changes sweeping into the sport, and Hamilton getting to drive a new generation of car after four seasons without being in championship contention.

However, the Brit said last time out in Las Vegas that he's not even looking forward to 2026, in what was a hard watch for fans of the 40-year-old.

Despite that, in Qatar, he took a more optimistic look, slamming the current generation of cars which have seen him claim just two grand prix wins across four seasons.

"I'm excited for a new generation of car," Hamilton said in another interview in the media pen.

"Because this has been the worst designed one that I remember, at least, probably at least in my phase. Maybe the 2009 generation was pretty bad also, but at least we had better tyres and better grip.

"But this one, just with the bouncing, stiffness, all these things, it's just not been an enjoyable period. And we've had the worst racing, you know. None of us can overtake. What's the point of having a race if no one can overtake?"

READ MORE: Hamilton out? Ferrari chief 'meets Sainz's manager' in Qatar

Related