Lewis Hamilton could not comprehend his luck as a loose bollard contributed to him going out in Q1 on his last Mercedes outing at Formula 1‘s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton looked in encouraging shape at the Yas Marina Circuit as a late run to third place in FP3 ensured that he ended all three practice sessions inside the top five.
However, Hamilton was languishing in the drop zone as he embarked on his final lap in Q1 amid Mercedes’ promising pace vanishing as the track temperature cooled.
The Briton was on track to improve his time, though, when Kevin Magnussen knocked a bollard onto the track at Turn 14 which ended up wedged under the Mercedes.
Magnussen had run wide to avoid impeding his rival, but the bizarre incident cost Hamilton as he lost time in the final sector to be resigned to qualifying in 18th place.
“I don’t have any emotions, I’m pretty chill,” Hamilton told media including Motorsport Week. “It was [an] unfortunate session, we got the bollard under the car, so…”
Asked whether he couldn’t believe his luck, he added: “The timing for that to get under the car is nuts.”
Hamilton suspects a podium would’ve been possible in tomorrow’s race had he managed to progress into Q3 like team-mate George Russell, who qualified in seventh.
“The car was feeling really good in general. FP3, I was third,” he highlighted.
“So honestly I thought we’re gonna be fighting for a podium, and my race pace was second-quickest. But it wasn’t meant to be.”
Instead, Hamilton, who will gain two spots due to Alex Albon and Charles Leclerc’s grip drops, is setting his sights on bagging points in his last Mercedes appearance.
“It’s not going to be easy to overtake tomorrow, but I work on strategy now,” he explained.
“Instead of fighting for the podium, we’ll see how far, if I can get into the top 10, that would be amazing.”
Hamilton was made to rue his misfortune even more as he revealed he had dialled his W15 into a much sweeter window compared to his woes in previous weekends.
“I don’t feel the pain of in the teeth, as such,” he expressed.
“I think for me, I’ve just been very present, been enjoying every moment, I’ve got the car in a really good place.
“The set-up changes we’ve been making, the car has been completely different to the last five races this weekend, it’s been feeling really great. So it is unfortunate.”
Asked how he is going to wake up tomorrow knowing it is the end with Mercedes, Hamilton replied: “It’ll be like I made it. I survived a very, very hardcore year.
“Although I’m going to be sad not to be racing any more this year, but hopefully next year comes around soon enough. Just going to miss all these people that I got to work with.”
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