Lewis Hamilton said Ferrari should drop him from his £60million-a-year-contract after he qualified a horrendous 12th for the Hungarian Grand Prix while his team-mate Charles Leclerc took a shock pole position.

Hamilton’s display marked his worst-ever qualifying result in Budapest, and moved his head-to-head record against Leclerc in qualifying to 10-4 this season.

A distraught, monosyllabic Hamilton said: ‘It’s me every time. I’m useless, absolutely useless.

‘The team have no problem. You’ve seen the car’s on pole. So we probably need to change driver.’

Hamilton has only competed 13 races for Ferrari since his sensational move to the team, and has not finished on the podium in that period. He is 30 points behind Leclerc, whose pole came from nowhere, with the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris qualifying second and third.

Hamilton’s only high point at Ferrari has been victory in the sprint in China. Other than that, he has desperately struggled for form, aged 40.

His performance on Saturday was a season-long meltdown in microcosm. The seven-time world champion remains stuck in P6 in the drivers’ championship, trailing Leclerc by 30 points.

It was the fourth time this season that Hamilton has missed out on Q3, having also suffered a Q1 exit at the Belgian Grand Prix last week.

On that occasion, he recovered from a pit lane start to finish seventh in the race and was voted Driver of the Day.

But while he will be hoping to summon some of the same fighting spirit he showed at Spa, Hungary’s circuit is among the toughest for overtaking.

Unless he makes an early impact on Sunday, Hamilton could find himself locked in a midfield battle.

Lewis Hamilton’s record at Ferrari

Head-to-head with Charles Leclerc:

Qualifying: Hamilton 4-10 Leclerc

Race: Hamilton 2-10 Leclerc (both disqualified in China)

Hamilton’s results by GP:

Australia: Qualified eighth, finished 10th

China: Qualified fifth, disqualified from race

Japan: Qualified eighth, finished seventh

Bahrain: Qualified ninth, finished fifth

Saudi Arabia: Qualified seventh, finished seventh

USA (Miami): Qualified 12th, finished eighth

Italy (Emilia Romagna): Qualified 12th, finished fourth

Monaco: Qualified fourth (grid: seventh), finished fifth

Spain: Qualified fifth, finished sixth

Canada: Qualified fifth, finished sixth

Austria: Qualified fourth, finished fourth

Great Britain: Qualified fifth, finished fourth

Belgium: Qualified 16th (started in pit lane), finished seventh

Hungary: Qualified 12th, race TBD