"Today was a crucial day. I don't expect much from tomorrow," rues Lewis
Saturday 28 May 2016 17:08, UK
Lewis Hamilton will start the Monaco GP from just third on the grid after suffering more reliability problems at the start of Q3.
Although the world champion was able to return to the track in the closing stages, Hamilton's rhythm appeared to have been badly disrupted by the latest mechanical issue on his Mercedes car.
Attempting "to get in sync" with the rest of the top ten after encountering traffic when he returned to the track for the final minutes, Hamilton completed a series of warm-up laps. On his one and only flier, Hamilton went quickest through the opening two sectors but lost significant time in the third to qualify behind pole-sitter and Daniel Ricciardo and championship leader Nico Rosberg.
"Today was a crucial day. I don't expect much from tomorrow," Hamilton said. "by the time I pushed, my tyres perhaps weren't as good as the fresh tyres that they had.
"I don't know what to say. Pole was there for the taking. I will do what l can in the race."
As Q3 started, Hamilton had to pull off to the side of the pitlane after reporting he had "no power". He was quickly rushed back to his garage by Mercedes, who insisted it wasn't a repeat failure of their troublesome MGU-H unit.
Toto Wolff refused to give too much away when questioned about the concerns, only telling Sky F1 that both cars had a "fuel pressure problem".
Qualifying report: Ricciardo on pole, Lewis third
"Without it, would it have changed something? I don't know," the Mercedes team boss added.
The Silver Arrows later clarified they had traced the problem to their fuel overheating after short runs in qualifying.
Hamilton cut a dejected figure after the session and said that Sunday's forecast rain was his only hope of winning.
"I don't know what the problem was. If the car keeps going l will fight as hard as I can. Hopefully it rains - that will be pretty amazing.
"I'm going in with the goal, of course, of trying to overtake the two cars in front - but we shall see.
Watch the Monaco GP live on Sky Sports F1. The race starts at 1pm on Sunday, with build-up underway at 11.30am. Or watch the race without a contract for £6.99 on NOW TV.
