Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of a strong swansong with Mercedes were dealt a hefty blow after he was eliminated from the first part of qualifying at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton will start in 16th place on the grid for what will be his final race with Mercedes after collecting a bollard dislodged by Kevin Magnussen’s Haas as he tried to get out of Hamilton’s way at the end of the first qualifying session.
The British driver, who is moving to Ferrari next season after 12 years with Mercedes, was still on course to progress to Q2 before that incident, however, the lodged bollard under made it impossible for the car to perform as intended.
All your timings ahead of the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ⌚️🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/C2LKDmrQUU
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) December 4, 2024
“You couldn’t make it up, you really couldn’t, but it is what it is,” said Hamilton.
“We gave it everything. I gave it everything. The car was in a good place. Every practice session went well, I was ahead of my team-mate all weekend but when we got to qualifying I think as a team we didn’t perform in terms of the timing.
“I was the last car on track and ran out of time ultimately, and then I got the bollard at the end which went under the car and I lost all downforce so it couldn’t have gone worse really.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff blamed the early exit on the team’s execution of the end of Q1 when Hamilton was sent back onto track too late amid the traffic of other cars.
Wolff apologised to the seven-time champion for what he called “idiotic” and “inexcusable” decisions by his team.
“I just need to apologise to Lewis and to everyone in the team for working so hard to make it a great end for him,” Wolff told Sky Sports.
“He was the quicker guy with that kind of set-up that we chose on the car and also to experiment for next year and we totally let him down.
“We totally let him down” 💔
Toto Wolff apologises to Lewis for sending him out so late during Q1 👇 pic.twitter.com/dNuZHDFdZT
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) December 7, 2024
“An idiotic mistake of not going earlier, inexcusable, inexcusable. I have really been so down about what has happened and it maybe summarises the last races we’ve had with him, but this is the worst part of it because it was just idiotic.
“Our most valuable racing driver ever, the most valuable racing driver of this sport gets out in Q1 because we make a mistake and that doesn’t ruin all the legacy we have with him but I can only say sorry to him.”
