Hamilton Expresses Disbelief After Early Qualifying Exit in Final Mercedes Race

Lewis Hamilton, who joined Mercedes for the 2013 season, expressed his astonishment, stating “you couldn’t make it up,” following his elimination from the initial qualifying segment during his last race for the team at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The seven-time champion, set to transfer to Ferrari next season after 12 years of remarkable success with Mercedes, secured the 18th qualifying position for the event. He is scheduled to commence the race from 16th place following penalties imposed on other competitors. Hamilton expressed disbelief regarding the unraveling of his qualifying session, which occurred when his car struck a bollard that had been dislodged by Kevin Magnussen’s Haas. This incident happened as Magnussen attempted to move aside for Hamilton at the conclusion of the first qualifying session. Speaking to BBC Sport, he commented that qualifying “couldn’t have gone worse really”. Hamilton further stated: “Every day and more than ever I’ve just tried to be really present, just trying to take it in because it’s the last time we will be racing and driving in Silver Arrows and it’s all my wins, all my success through my life.” He continued, “So every moment is a special moment and I would have loved to get a podium for the guys this weekend and it just didn’t work out.” Hamilton secured six of his record-tying seven world titles while with Mercedes and achieved 84 of his all-time record 105 grand prix victories alongside the team, which also claimed eight consecutive constructors’ championships between 2014 and 2021. He was on course to advance to the second phase of qualifying, but the bollard became lodged beneath his car’s floor for the last four corners of the lap, preventing the vehicle from operating as designed. “You couldn’t make it up, you really couldn’t, but it is what it is,” Hamilton remarked. He continued, “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.” He concluded, “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 conveyed to Sky Sports: “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.” He added, “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.” Wolff further stated, “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.” He concluded, “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.”