Lewis Hamilton will start his final race for Mercedes in 18th after failing to get out of the first phase of qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Afrosport reports.
The seven-time world champion was unfortunate to have a bollard get stuck under his car after it was dislodged by Kevin Magnussen’s towards the end of the final lap.
It cost Hamilton valuable time as he missed the cut to advance into the second qualifying phase by just 0.093 seconds.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff offered his apology to the 39-year-old for not making his final qualifying session with the German automobile giant a memorable one.
“I just need to apologise to Lewis,” Wolff said after the session. “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.”
The final starting grid of the 2024 season 👀#F1 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/6BeiwMUNaq
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 7, 2024
Hamilton will however line up 16th for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi race as grid penalties have been handed to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and William’s Alex Albon.
Lando Norris will start on pole position ahead of his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, giving the Woking outfit a big shot at sealing the constructors’ championship for the first time in 26 years.
Carlos Sainz will start on the second row of the grid alongside Nico Hulkenberg while reigning world champion Max Verstappen will start fifth ahead of Pierre Gasly, George Russell, Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
