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George Russell believes that Lewis Hamilton was 'talking nonsense' when he described his performance in qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix as 'absolutely useless'. The seven-time world champion gave a dejected interview on Saturday at the Hungaroring after failing to reach Q3 for the second weekend in succession.

The first part of Hamilton's debut season with Ferrari has been extremely challenging, and the 40-year-old was at a low point in terms of confidence after qualifying in Hungary. Things didn't get better in the race, either, with Hamilton crossing the line down in 12th after failing to make up ground from his disappointing grid slot. However, according to his ex-team-mate, he has the ability to bounce back after the summer break.

"Yeah, of course he's talking nonsense when he says something like that, because he's the greatest driver of all time, I think," Russell told Express Sport and other select media at the Dutch Grand Prix. "You know, a situation like that when you go from the racetrack and you're in front of the media within 10 minutes, you have all of these emotions.

"When you have a bad day, that's how you feel. When you have a good day, everything changes and you know, he's still an exceptional driver, we saw he obviously won the sprint straight away at the start of the year in China.

"He's clearly still got it, but Formula One is not an easy sport, and especially if the team is not performing at the highest level, that compounds the issue and of course, Charles [Leclerc] is an amazing driver too.

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"So I think right now, 14 races down, probably every driver bar two (Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri) are looking forward to 2026 and for a fresh opportunity to fight for a championship and for someone like Lewis, you know, that's what he sort of lives for, not just, you know, getting into [the] points."

Hamilton heads into the Dutch GP with a 42-point deficit to team-mate Leclerc, and with his first experience at the Italian Grand Prix coming up, the Stevenage-born racer will be desperate to resurrect his form at F1's penultimate visit to the Zandvoort Circuit.

"I feel determined to, and motivated to [turn things around]," Hamilton said on Thursday. "I'm just going to work hard, keep our heads down, try to change a few things in our approach, and start to enjoy ourselves. There's been so much pressure [in] the first half of this season, it's not been the most enjoyable."