Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari should sack him after he could only go a ‘useless’ 12th-quickest on the grid in qualifying for the 2025 Hungarian GP, whilst Charles Leclerc managed to produce a stunning pole.
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion was left stunned as he was handed a Q2 exit at the Hungaroring, missing out on progression by 0.015 – a small but costly margin on Saturday.
Matters were then made worse for the 40-year-old was he could only watch his teammate to on to romp home to pole ahead of Oscar Paistri and Lando Norris, beating the McLarens despite unlikely odds.
It was a moment that is clearly affecting Hamilton as he says Ferrari should sack him after his ‘useless’ Hungarian GP qualifying effort, cutting a very down-hearted and beaten figure.
“It’s me every time,” Hamilton said to Sky Sports F1 in Budapest. “I’m useless, absolutely useless.
“The team have no problem. You’ve seen the car’s on pole. So we probably need to change driver.”
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Leclerc sympathises with Hamilton’s Hungarian GP qualifying struggles
That Q2 exit is now the fourth time Hamilton has failed to make Q3, excluding Sprint Race events, and it leaves him 10-4 down in the head-to-head against his younger teammate; who has only failed to make the Q3 cut once in 2025.
The performance continues a trend of one-lap struggles for the legendary driver, who has 104 pole positions to his name across his illustrious career but hasn’t consistently found his form since the end of 2023.
To be fair to him, his teammates through that run are ruthless on Saturdays. Both George Russell and Leclerc are known for being qualifying specialists, so any struggles are made worse on paper by moments like August 2 when they manage to squeeze out the absolute maximum.
And the man from Monaco admitted that qualifying wasn’t easy for him and that he had no idea where he managed to find the time to take pole position in what he described as one of the best poles he’s ever had in the sport.
“Honestly, the whole qualifying has been extremely difficult,” Leclerc told F1 TV. “When I say extremely difficult, it’s not exaggerating.
“It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3. Q3, the conditions changed a little bit.
“Everything became a lot trickier, and I knew I just had to do a clean lap to target third. At the end of the day, it’s pole position. I definitely did not expect that.”
He added: “Honestly, I have no words. It’s probably one of the best pole positions I’ve ever had. It’s the most unexpected, for sure.”
