Lewis Hamilton said he was “incredibly disappointed” with himself after crashing out of what had been a strong qualifying session for Mercedes.
The seven-times world champion said he had a “big hit” with the barrier when he spun off at turn seven during Q3. He had been in contention for the fastest time earlier in the session.“I’m incredibly disappointed in myself, ultimately,” Hamilton told the official F1 channel. He will start Saturday’s sprint race from 10th on the grid. “I’m so sorry to the team, everyone worked so hard to put this car together and I never like to bring it back damaged.”
Mercedes were enjoying their most competitive showing of the season so far until Hamilton crashed, followed soon afterwards by his team mate George Russell.
“We were fighting for top three, I think,” said Hamilton, who was at a loss to explain why his car snapped away from him on the way into the corner. “I don’t have an answer to it, I just lost the back end in turn seven and that was that.”
Hamilton said he is unsure whether Mercedes’ strong showing in qualifying will also mean they are able to make progress in the sprint race.
“I’m encouraged, of course, to see our performance,” he said. “We weren’t expecting to be as close as that today so that’s a huge positive.
“But I’m really quite far back. I don’t know what’s possible from there but we have a sprint race as well so I hope that tomorrow I can make up for some lost time.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said Hamilton and Russell “shouldn’t beat themselves up because of this situation of crashing out.” Russell qualified fifth, five places ahead of Hamilton.
“We’ve given them a car that wasn’t on par for 10 races in a row,” he told Sky. “Now we’re starting to come to terms and we’re able to drive in front and then it can happen that you just lose the car.
“I’d rather have a fast car and a qualifying like this than not having the pace to be in the top four.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2022 Austrian Grand Prix
- FIA affirms three sprint races on 2023 Formula 1 calendar
- “Oh, so unlucky!” How Alonso’s cursed Austrian Grand Prix unfolded on his radio
- Ferrari believe their performance deficit to Red Bull is now “negligible”
- Another fan’s experience of harassment last weekend – and why F1 must act
- AlphaTauri “desperately” need upgrades after “disaster” weekend, urges Gasly
Kribana (@krichelle)
8th July 2022, 18:08
Go make this weekend exciting for us starting tomorrow. We could have had a 6 way fight at the most for pole. At least on Sunday we might get it for the win.
OmarR
8th July 2022, 18:14
So he hasn’t learnt to hit the apex yet
Ruben
8th July 2022, 19:25
I think this was the episode where the apex hit back.
SteveP
8th July 2022, 20:04
You’ve hit the nub of the problem at Silverstone 2021.
Max was aiming to hit the apex and ignoring the front end of car 44 that was between him and the apex.
If, like Leclerc 2022 he’d stayed a little further out he’d have got past.
Still, they do say “like father, like son…” rush in and blame the other guy.
Miane
8th July 2022, 20:55
Actually Max was in a racing line to hit the apex on the outside. If Lewis was on the inside line there was space for both, but Lewis would need to lift to make that line. That’s exactly what he did against Leclerc, that’s why they didn’t crashed.
theRealMax (@millionus)
8th July 2022, 20:11
He he. Very droll :)
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
9th July 2022, 0:05
Savage :) Old school Omar !
Illusive (@illusive)
8th July 2022, 18:26
On a week where Mercs looked good, both cars too. They have been bringing a lot of updates + this crash should make it difficult for them to bring further updates.
Ber101 (@cplchanb)
9th July 2022, 0:30
we shall see… all the parts up to hungary should already be in production or finished.
Also they have loads of spares since they havent had any accidents since the start of the season apart from last week.
Also with the agreement to allow for more inflation spending they shouldnt be in too far back.
Boomerang
8th July 2022, 19:04
If Lewis climbs up to 6th tomorrow anything can happen on the race day.
Nicky
8th July 2022, 20:42
We are disappointed in you too Lewis…
Fab
8th July 2022, 21:46
« I think Erickson hit us »
Esteban (@esteban)
8th July 2022, 21:58
Unblessed.
Wellbalanced
8th July 2022, 23:46
I do like the measured words of Toto there. He’s absolutely right.
One point- though faster, is the Mercedes not becoming unwieldy? Two oversteer snaps in fast corners is a bit of a coincidence.
Sprint quali should allow both Mercedes to get somewhere near where they would have qualified normally, so not the end of the world.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th July 2022, 1:24
Is there any info on why hamilton aborted his first q3 lap? It looked fast, not sure where he’d have been ultimately, but can’t find why he aborted it anywhere.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
9th July 2022, 14:11
@esploratore1
I’m pretty sure mercedes were having major warm up issues, so I think that even though his early lap looked quick, he probably won’t have done a very fast last sector anyway. So it was maybe a fast 2 thirds of the lap, then some time to cool off just for a few moments before going for the proper lap. Mercedes never seemed comfortable doing just 1 quick lap.
Rahim.RG (@rahim-rg)
9th July 2022, 1:42
I feel Lewis threw away another chance for victory this weekend.
Erikje
9th July 2022, 11:44
Lewis boss just told why he crashed. He drove to fast (10kph) into the corner.
Rookie mistake, can happen even on his age (or because of his age!?)