Lewis Hamilton was in a philosophical temper after his Q1 exit on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, along with his ultimate qualifying session for Mercedes being hampered by a bollard.
Mercedes needed to warn Hamilton that he may wrestle to start out his ultimate 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 minimize the nook to maintain out of his manner however the Haas driver inadvertently knocked unfastened a bollard that lodged itself underneath Hamilton’s automotive, hampering his ultimate 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
— System 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 thing, I gave it every thing, the automotive was in a very good place. Each apply session went effectively, I used to be forward of my teammate all weekend however after we obtained to qualifying I believe as a group we didn’t carry out when it comes to the timing.
“I used to be the final automotive on monitor and ran out of time, finally, after which I obtained the bollard on the finish which went underneath 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 making an attempt to struggle again into the factors on Saturday.
“Nah, I don’t really feel the ache of [it being a kick] within the tooth, as such. I believe for me, I’ve simply been very current, been having fun with each second, I’ve obtained the automotive in a very good place,” he stated. “The setup adjustments we’ve been making, the automotive has been fully completely 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 simple 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 may be wonderful.”
Staff principal Toto Wolff additionally then took it upon himself to ask for forgiveness to Hamilton for the way in which Mercedes executed qualifying, with the seven-time world champion set to start out sixteenth as soon as grid penalties are utilized.
“I simply have to apologize to Lewis,” he advised Sky Sports activities. “Additionally to everybody within the group that labored so onerous in making it an amazing 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. Possibly 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 have been fortunate that each of them wrestled their manner by means of the opposite site visitors. Possibly with out the bollard it could have labored. You don’t danger a lot in a Q1 the place we simply had the tempo to make it on the market. Our Most worthy racing driver ever, probably the most useful biggest driver of this sport, will get out in Q1 as a result of we make a mistake. It doesn’t break the legacy we had with him however I can solely ask for forgiveness to him.”
