Lewis Hamilton Out in Q1: Toto Wolff Apologises to Seven-Time World Champion
Controversial last qualifying session for Lewis Hamilton as he left fans stunned by a dismal 18th place finish. His final qualifying round with Mercedes, after 12 remarkable years with the team, was marred by a chain of unfortunate events that left the seven-time F1 World Champion facing an uphill battle in his farewell race.
Lewis was set to achieve a breakthrough in Q1; he could’ve potentially overtaken George Russell’s time and progressed to the next stage of qualification. However, an unexpected incident with a bollard knocked onto the track by Kevin Magnussen’s Haas sent shockwaves through the Mercedes camp.
“I just need to apologise to Lewis,”
“Also to everyone in the team that worked so hard in making it a great end for him. He was the quicker guy with the setup we chose on the car to experiment for next year.
“We totally let him down. Idiotic mistake of not going earlier. Inexcusable, inexcusable. I’ve rarely been so down about what has happened. Maybe it summarises the last races we’ve had with him but this is the worst part of it because it was just idiotic.”
“I think we were lucky that both of them wrestled their way through the other traffic. Maybe without the bollard it would have worked.
“You don’t risk so much in a Q1 where we easily had the pace to make it out there. Our most valuable racing driver ever, the most valuable greatest driver of this sport, gets out in Q1 because we make a mistake. It doesn’t ruin the legacy we had with him but I can only say sorry to him.”
– Toto Wolff, Mercedes Team Boss
The incident, coupled with strategic miscalculations that saw Hamilton on the track with a hard tire set at the start of Q1, out of sync with other runners, ultimately sealed his fate. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff took full responsibility for the team’s performance, acknowledging the team made a “idiotic” mistake and offered a sincere apology to Hamilton, calling it the “worst part” of the situation.
Hamilton’s Philosophical Response
Hamilton, seemingly unfazed by the setback, carried a philosophical air as he addressed the session with the media. There was no trace of anger or frustration, just a calm acceptance of the situation.
“We did something different, we went out on the hard tyre which was odd still in qualifying and then.. we’re just out of sequence to everybody else so we were the last on track and I was the last because I chose to go second so…” he said.
“Ran out of time basically, then I got the bollard from a back-marker in the end. Up until that point, I was the same pace as George, so yeah…”
“It is what it is. Definitely not a great qualifying session but we’ve had so many great ones so its okay.”
– Lewis Hamilton
He admitted that the intention to try a different strategy had backfired but remained positive, emphasizing the numerous successful qualifying sessions he’d had throughout his tenure with Mercedes, suggesting that this one simply wouldn’t overshadow his legacy.
“I don’t have any emotions, I’m pretty chill.
“I don’t feel the pain… I think I’m just being very present. I’ve been enjoying every moment.
“I’ve got the car in a really good place, set up changes we’ve made to the car in the last five races this weekend, the car has been really different in the last five races – it’s been feeling really great.”
Speaking about his approach to the final race, Hamilton revealed his renewed focus on climbing the rankings despite the challenging starting position.
“The car has been… that’s where we struggled the most as a team this weekend, but the car was feeling really good in general,” he said.
“FP3 I was third, so honestly, I thought we could be fighting for podium – my race pace was second quickest. But it wasn’t meant to be.
“It’s not gonna be easy to overtake tomorrow. I’m gonna work on strategy now and, instead of fighting for a podium now, it’s see how far I can get into the top 10.”
– Lewis Hamilton