A dejected Lewis Hamilton admitted he is “definitely not fast anymore” after another disappointing performance in qualifying.

Hamilton could only qualify seventh for the sprint race in Qatar and was 0.399 seconds slower than George Russell. His Mercedes team-mate will begin second on Saturday behind McLaren’s Lando Norris.

The 39-year-old has been consistently out-performed by Russell this season and suffered another setback in the penultimate weekend of the 2024 campaign. Hamilton will join up with Ferrari for next season and his comments in Qatar may well raise questions at the team.

"It was the same as every other qualifying, not that great," Hamilton stated. “I'm just slow. Same every weekend. The car felt relatively decent. No issues. Not really much more to say."

When asked if the problems might not be with him, but with the car, Hamilton replied: "Who knows? I'm definitely not fast anymore."

The downbeat veteran driver struggled to find any positives from the performance. "The long run didn't feel too bad," added Hamilton. "But, when you're back where I am, it makes it almost impossible to compete for wins. But that's the Sprint. I will do what I can [on Saturday]."

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

Hamilton is an all-time great of the sport, having won seven championships. He holds the all-time record for poles, on 104 – well clear of Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher ’s 68 – but has struggled for form in recent years.

The Brit sits seventh in the standings with two races left in the season and his record compared to Russell this year is cause for concern for Ferrari. The younger man holds a 22-6 head-to-head qualifying advantage across the sport's two formats this year.

Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has asked Mercedes to release Hamilton early, so that he can test drive his new car, but the request has not been granted. "I know Fred wanted it to happen,” Hamilton said. “For me, I was in two minds. Driving the red car for the first time in Abu Dhabi does not excite me. In a perfect world, you get to drive it, not be seen, and do the first rollout next year.

"When I did raise it, obviously with Toto [Wolff, Mercedes team principal], they had all these plans that I have got to go and see some of the sponsors and say their farewells.

"So I do not think it was ever going to actually be allowed, even if I had asked to have done it, because I am contracted to the team until December 31st and that is totally fine. But it does not bother me, again, because I was not going to do the test.

"It is not what I wanted to do. I told Fred that it is not what I wanted to do. Am I missing out on something? For sure. It definitely delays the process and makes the start of the year harder, but we will do our best to recover."