Lewis Hamilton is facing an uphill battle at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after multiple grid penalties left him with a P20 start. The Ferrari driver admitted he treated the session as an experimental run rather than a standard qualifying push.
The trouble started early on Saturday when Hamilton and team mate Charles Leclerc both took a 10-place grid penalty following an Internal Combustion Engine change. Things worsened for Hamilton during Free Practice 3 when trouble forced Ferrari into changing even more power unit elements, triggering further penalties.
Because of the strategy to preserve tyres for a wet 71-lap race on Sunday, Hamilton spent very little time on track during the wet qualifying session, bowing out in the second part.
"It was a lot of fun out there. It's always fun in the rain. It's very, very tricky, but I had just a lot of fun, just in the few laps that we got," Hamilton said. "I wish I was still out there battling with the guys, but unfortunately, saving the tyres for tomorrow."
Despite starting dead last, the driver remained optimistic about carving his way through the pack. "That's what we're trying to do, yeah," Hamilton stated when asked about charging from P20. "It's going to be really tricky conditions, but I love racing in the rain. I was basically using the Qualifying session as a test in making sure the engine is working and making sure that the car felt good, so I feel good for tomorrow."
Meanwhile, team mate Charles Leclerc navigated the tricky conditions much further up the order. Leclerc fought his way into the final part of qualifying to post the fourth fastest time. Once his own penalty is applied, the Monegasque driver will line up in P14 on the grid.
After claiming to have learnt a huge amount today from the wet weather running, Leclerc is keeping his sights firmly on the rostrum. "I'm feeling good, I'm looking forward to it," Leclerc said. "We knew taking an engine penalty here, we knew that everything is to play for still because you've got crazy weather all the time. It's good to see that the weather is still crazy for tomorrow and hopefully that will give us an opportunity to come back on the podium from where we start."
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