Lewis Hamilton was in a philosophical temper after his Q1 exit on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, together with his closing qualifying session for Mercedes being hampered by a bollard.
Mercedes needed to warn Hamilton that he may wrestle to start out his closing lap within the first a part of qualifying due to site visitors and the time left on the clock, however he simply managed to cross the road in time. Then as he rounded Flip 14, Kevin Magnussen reduce the nook to maintain out of his approach however the Haas driver inadvertently knocked unfastened a bollard that lodged itself below Hamilton’s automotive, hampering his closing few laps as he dropped out in 18th place.
Hamilton collects a stray bollard and will get bumped out of Q1 😖#F1 AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/22k8UOdyZg
— Formulation 1 (@F1) December 7, 2024
“You couldn’t make it up, you actually couldn’t, however it’s what it’s,” he advised the BBC. “We gave it every little thing, I gave it every little thing, the automotive was in a great place. Each apply session went nicely, I used to be forward of my teammate all weekend however once we bought to qualifying I believe as a staff we didn’t carry out by way of the timing.
“I used to be the final automotive on observe and ran out of time, finally, after which I bought the bollard on the finish which went below the automotive and I misplaced all downforce so it couldn’t have gone worse actually.”
Regardless of the frustration, Hamilton says the automotive has been sturdy and can give him an opportunity of attempting to battle again into the factors on Saturday.
“Nah, I don’t really feel the ache of [it being a kick] within the enamel, as such. I believe for me, I’ve simply been very current, been having fun with each second, I’ve bought the automotive in a very good place,” he mentioned. “The setup modifications we’ve been making, the automotive has been utterly totally different to the final 5 races this weekend — it’s been feeling actually nice. So it’s unlucky, however…
“The tempo was first rate. It’s not going to be straightforward to overhaul tomorrow, however I work on technique now and as a substitute of combating for the rostrum, we’ll see how far — if I can get into the highest 10, that might be wonderful.”
Staff principal Toto Wolff additionally then took it upon himself to apologize to Hamilton for the best way Mercedes executed qualifying, with the seven-time world champion set to start out sixteenth as soon as grid penalties are utilized.
“I simply must apologize to Lewis,” he advised Sky Sports activities. “Additionally to everybody within the staff that labored so laborious in making it a fantastic finish for him. He was the faster man with the setup we selected on the automotive to experiment for subsequent yr. We completely let him down.
“Idiotic mistake of not going earlier. Inexcusable, inexcusable. I’ve hardly ever been so down about what has occurred. Perhaps it summarizes the final races we’ve had with him however that is the worst a part of it, as a result of it was simply idiotic.
“I believe we had been fortunate that each of them wrestled their approach by the opposite site visitors. Perhaps with out the bollard it will have labored. You don’t threat a lot in a Q1 the place we simply had the tempo to make it on the market. Our most beneficial racing driver ever, essentially the most worthwhile biggest driver of this sport, will get out in Q1 as a result of we make a mistake. It doesn’t damage the legacy we had with him however I can solely apologize to him.”
