Hamilton disaster as loose bollard puts him out of Q1 in final Mercedes outing

Lewis Hamilton’s last qualifying for Mercedes in System 1 led to a disappointing Q1 exit on Saturday after a flying bollard obtained trapped below his automotive.

The seven-time world champion was on his last effort to place in a lap that might get him via to Q2 when he came across a gradual Kevin Magnussen within the Haas.

The Dane, conscious Hamilton was developing behind him within the resort part, moved off the monitor and behind the kerbs to strive to not block the Mercedes.

Nevertheless, in doing so, Magnussen struck the bollard that’s on the within apex, flinging it throughout the monitor simply as Hamilton arrived.

With no time to react, Hamilton ran over the bollard and it obtained trapped beneath his automotive as he tried to complete the lap.

The aerodynamics would have been badly affected and a lacklustre last sector meant the Briton missed out on moving into the highest 15 instances by lower than one tenth of a second, ending up 18th out of 20 drivers.

Clearly indignant concerning the state of affairs and the dearth of tempo, Hamilton got here on the crew radio straight afterwards and stated: “That was unhealthy man, Jesus”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who lowered his head in frustration at Hamilton’s Q1 exit in his last Mercedes occasion, concurred: “Sure Lewis. That was unhealthy.”

Hamilton is predicted to start out his last race with Mercedes from sixteenth on the grid owing to penalties for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Williams driver Alex Albon.

Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell did make it via Q3, however may solely qualify seventh with a time that was half a second down on polesitter Lando Norris within the lead McLaren.