‘I’m definitely not fast any more’ Lewis Hamilton’s damning verdict of his form after Qatar Grand Prix sprint qualifying

LEWIS HAMILTON has given a damning assessment of his own performances this season after another disappointing effort in qualifying.

Hamilton, 39, qualified seventh for the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix.

The Mercedes ace, who will join Ferrari next season, has claimed he is "definitely not fast anymore" after finishing 0.399 seconds slower that teammate George Russell.

He said: "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."

When pressed on if the issue is related to him or the car, Hamilton doubled down that it's a him-problem.

He added: "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.

"Not particularly [any positives]. The positive is the car is fast and George should be able to shoot for pole tomorrow.

"Who knows? I'm definitely not fast anymore."

Hamilton's teammate Russell will start today's sprint in second, behind McLaren's Lando Norris.

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Russell has now out-qualified Hamilton 17 TIMES in 22 races, despite the seven-time world champ holding the record for the most pole positions in F1 history (104).

While Russell is averaging an advantage of 0.16 seconds per lap over Hamilton this season.

The 26-year-old, who won last week's Las Vegas GP, is also one place ahead of Hamilton in the driver's standings.

Hamilton will partner Charles Leclerc when he makes the highly-anticipated switch to Ferrari next season.

Today's sprint in Qatar is set to get underway at 2pm UK time with the race itself taking place on Sunday at 4pm.