Lewis Hamilton has shouldered the blame for his Q3 error which saw him fail to complete his final flying, dropping him from provisional pole to sixth.
The Briton looked set to take the top spot, but a drying sector three meant his rivals ventured back out to improve. Hamilton did the same, but chose to abort the lap after a small error, something he now regrets doing as big gains were to be made later in the lap.
“I made a mistake today and pulled out of the lap when I should have kept going,” he said, adding: “It wasn’t their [the team’s] fault, it was mine.”
Hamilton apologised to the British 120,000 or so fans who had been counting on the Brit to deliver a long-awaited home victory.
“It was a tough qualifying with the changing conditions and we got through most of it really well, until the most important part,” he added. “It was my decision, a bad call, and that decided my qualifying.
“I’m so sorry to have disappointed the fans here today as their support has been fantastic and I’ll do what I can to have a great race for them tomorrow.
“I need to have a start like I had in Austria two weeks ago and then do my best to get back to the front; you never know what might happen.”
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