Toto Wolff has apologised to Lewis Hamilton for an “idiotic mistake” after the British driver endured a torrid final qualifying for Mercedes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton, who leaves for Ferrari next year, needed to improve on his final lap in Q1 and was driving in a lot of traffic as he started his lap at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Kevin Magnussen then dislodged a bollard ahead and, in a huge stroke of misfortune, the bollard became wedged in the bottom of Hamilton’s car. He qualified 18th-fastest but will start tomorrow’s race – his final F1 grand prix for Mercedes – in 16th due to grid penalties.
Yet Wolff apologised for the set-up of Hamilton’s car, with an eye already on next season.
"I need to apologise to Lewis, everybody who works hard for him, the set-up we chose was to experiment next year, but we totally let him down,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1.
“An idiotic mistake, not going early, inexcusable. I’ve rarely been so down about what has happened, it maybe summarises the last races with him, but this has been the worst, it was just idiotic.
“We were lucky they raced through the traffic, without the bollard it might have worked, but you don’t risk so much in Q1, our most valuable racing driver ever, in this sport, gets out in Q1 because we make a mistake.
“It doesn’t ruin all the legacy we have him, I can only say sorry to him. He was there, he’d have had a chance at a podium I think.
“Now it’s pretty much impossible for him.”
Hamilton, however, refused to be as downbeat as his boss in the media pen afterwards.
“It’s just my luck, it’s OK,” he said. “I tried, we tried.
“The car was in a good place, maybe a podium was possible this weekend, the timing was not optimised for the session and I just ran out of time.”
Lando Norris qualified on pole position with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri alongside him in second.
McLaren have a 21-point lead to Ferrari as they look to win the constructors’ championship for the first time in 26 years.
