7-time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton had to settle for P5 in the Saturday Qualifying for the season-opening Bahrain GP. Most in the F1 community received this result with little to no shock, given the problems Mercedes was struggling with.

While initially, the F1 fraternity thought the Silver Arrows were sandbagging, the result backed their claims. Hamilton’s new partner, George Russell, could only manage P9, pretty damaging to his reputation of “Mr. Saturday”.

Mercedes have not looked very good in the practice sessions, and couldn’t match Ferrari and Red Bull’s pace.

Lewis Hamilton is thankful to the team

The Brackley team was not very confident ahead of the new season. Both their British drivers claimed they won’t be fighting for title wins in the beginning, and they are still trying to unlock the potential of the W13. However, after struggling heavily with ‘porpoising’ and brake issues, this would qualify as a comeback for the team.

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Lewis, gracious as ever, was incredibly supportive of the team. Despite a slow start, and a not very exciting finish of P5, the seven-time world champion was thankful to his team. He claimed to be “generally quite happy” with the qualifying and felt that the team managed a great run despite severe issues.

Lewis further revealed, “I’m excited I know it’s a long long season…just proud of the team, proud of us all keeping our heads down. I know that this is the best team and we will huddle together and unite and fix whatever problems we have.”

Hamilton previously claimed that Ferrari and Red Bull are leagues ahead of them. However, Mercedes is not losing hope and could catch up with them. A large section of the fans think that the moment Silver Arrows fix their major issues, they could be back at a superior pace.

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Qualifying saw Ferrari ‘Golden Boy’ Charles Leclerc on the pole, followed by Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. Ferrari indeed lived up to the hype; however, the real challenge begins today, as they compete for the Bahrain Grand Prix.