Lewis Hamilton labelled his showing in sprint qualifying for Formula 1's Austrian Grand Prix as "pretty disastrous" as he admitted he didn't deliver a single good lap.
Mercedes had high hopes of a good showing in the shoot-out for grid positions for Saturday's sprint race, with the car having shown some promising pace early on.
But a scrappy session for Hamilton, who touched the gravel traps several times, left him down in sixth place – two slots behind his team-mate George Russell.
Reflecting on his performance, Hamilton said he had fallen short of what was needed to be fighting right at the front.
"I wasn't in the mix at all the whole session," he said. "It was pretty disastrous from my point. What can I say? Practice felt good. The car generally felt good.
"I don't think we had the pace obviously to be on pole, but, yeah, very bad laps. Every single one of them."
Hamilton did not feel that there was much potential to move forward in the sprint, as he said the real focus was on delivering more for the official qualifying session on Saturday afternoon.
