Struggling Hamilton says he feels no connection with his car

Lewis Hamilton said he does not "feel connected" with his Mercedes car after an underwhelming performance in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday.

The seven-time world champion qualified eighth while teammate George Russell took fourth, but both drivers will gain a place on the grid on Sunday because Ferrari's Charles Leclerc faces a 10-place grid penalty.

"I just struggled to extract the performance," said Hamilton, who has complained about the team's new W14 car this season and whose future has been a subject of speculation this week.

"The car is where it is... I mean, George did a great job, he's right up there on the second row. So, the car's obviously got performance.

"I just don't feel connected to this car. No matter what I do, no matter what I change, I can't get confidence in it.

"At the moment, it definitely feels like I just couldn't get any more out of the car."

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Russell admitted that he expected Red Bull's defending world champion Max Verstappen to have little difficulty in progressing from 15th on the grid, having been eliminated in Q2 when he suffered a driveshaft failure.

His Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez took pole position ahead of Leclerc and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.

"Red Bull are just doing an excellent job, the gap to the rest of the field is bigger than we've seen in anyone for six, seven, eight years, so it is pretty impressive," said Russell.

"I think Max is going to come through pretty easily unless there are any incidents."

Mercedes 'can fight for podium'

Verstappen won the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix after a grid penalty.

"We saw last year what Max did in Spa, where he started