Lewis Hamilton once ended amazing 67-race qualifying streak with his ‘worst’ driving performance in a ‘long, long time’

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Lewis Hamilton may no longer be at the top of his game but he knows how to race a nurse a car to victory, as referenced by his Chinese Grand Prix sprint race victory for Ferrari.

Back in 2013, Hamilton was debuting for Mercedes after making the bold move to abandon McLaren and switch teams.

The German manufacturer had been a midfield team until that season. They finished fifth in the constructors’ championship during the 2012 campaign – average form.

But the faith he installed in them paid dividends when the new regulations arrived in 2014. It was an inspired switch which led him to six more titles.

Hamilton considered quitting Formula 1 in 2009 after the ‘Liegate’ scandal but stuck at it and ended up enjoying a very strong career.

During his final year with McLaren, Hamilton had a ‘weird’ Twitter feud with Jenson Button after leaking telemetry data. It didn’t go down too well within the Woking-based outfit.

READ MORE: What Lewis Hamilton once said was ‘never a secret’ about Ferrari during Mercedes success

Lewis Hamilton produced ‘worst’ F1 performance for a ‘long time’ at 2013 Italian Grand Prix

In the middle of the 2013 season, Hamilton was on a bit of a qualifying hot streak. He had managed four pole positions in a row heading into the Italian Grand Prix.

His run of 67 consecutive Q3 appearances would end at Monza after he sustained floor damage early in qualifying, before running wide at Parabolica and on his best lap.

Force India’s Adrian Sutil would then hold him up, adding insult to injury and ensuring that his run wouldn’t be continuing beyond Italy.

“I drove like an idiot. That’s the worst I’ve driven for a long, long time,” Hamilton said after the session, according to the Daily Express.

He would fail to make the podium for the rest of the season after his troublesome weekend, and could only manage to gain three places from 12th during the race.

In contrast, teammate Nico Rosberg would secure two more podiums and manage sixth during the race in Monza.

READ MORE: Why Michael Schumacher once labelled Lewis Hamilton ‘not very nice’ after cheeky on-track move

Where did Lewis Hamilton finish during the 2013 Formula 1 season?

Up until the 2013 season, Hamilton had spent six years in the sport and taken at least one race victory in each of them.

His run was expected to end that campaign, but it didn’t. He claimed a win at the Hungarian Grand Prix and built some momentum ahead of the 2014 campaign by finishing fourth in the drivers’ standings.

That was two places higher than teammate Rosberg, who did seem to end 2013 in a slightly richer vein of form than the Brit.

Their next three seasons as teammates would be explosive and for the history books. They landed blows on each other and in the end, they both claimed titles.

It was a nightmare for Mercedes to manage and a scenario that team boss Toto Wolff is glad he can put behind him.