MELBOURNE, Australia – After qualifying eleventh for the Australian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton mentioned he’s struggling to maintain the great moments alive together with his Mercedes automotive.

Hamilton and Mercedes had appeared to make a step ahead in ultimate observe on the Albert Park circuit, host of Sunday’s race, however the seven-time world champion did not make it into Q3.

Teammate George Russell certified seventh however Hamilton mentioned the improved feeling from just a few hours earlier had disappeared.

“I imply, it is three years in a row, comparable feeling… However then there’s these spikes of ‘Ah, it may very well be good’, like this morning, however then it form of disappears,” Hamilton mentioned on Saturday afternoon.

“If we will work out a method of discovering that goodness within the automotive and making it extra constant and holding onto that, then we could be extra aggressive. There’s a number of work we have to do, however everybody’s working as laborious as they will.”

Hamilton mentioned circuit situations had modified at a vital second.

“[Final practice] felt actually good for us and I used to be actually feeling optimistic going into qualifying,” he mentioned. “However then, I do not know if it was the wind choosing up — the wind picked up fairly a bit, similar as yesterday — after which the automotive is simply a lot extra on a knife-edge right here.”

Hamilton can have the Aston Martins and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda beginning between him and Russell, however he prompt a tricky race was in retailer on Sunday.

“I have not accomplished a future so I do not actually know, however the different automotive has,” Hamilton mentioned on his outlook for Sunday’s race. “I feel everybody’s so quick, so… Nevertheless it’s a brand new day, we’ll nonetheless attempt. I will give it all the things and transfer forwards.”

Hamilton was then requested if this 12 months was much like 2022, when he experimented all year long to seek out solutions to Mercedes’ erratic automotive, which suffered from the notorious “porpoising” phenomenon.

When requested if he and Russell are nonetheless splitting methods, Hamilton mentioned: “In 2022 we weren’t splitting. George was doing one factor and I used to be making an attempt each set-up that there was to attempt to assist the workforce attempt to discover choices and work out how we will repair it.

“It is just about the identical, a bit of bit much like this 12 months, I am making an attempt a number of various things however I feel this weekend we’re a lot nearer.”