Lewis Hamilton bemoans his bad luck after striking a loose bollard in qualifying for the F1 2024 Abu Dhabi GP meaning his final time with Mercedes ends in disaster as he starts from 16th on the grid at the Yas Marina circuit.
The weekend began with a lot of potential for the 39-year-old after he finished Free Practice 3 in third place behind the two McLarens, who went on to secure a 1-2 with Lando Norris ahead of Oscar Piastri.
But an operational error by the Silver Arrows saw him cross the line with five seconds to spare as he dropped to 18th, putting him under needless pressure considering the inherent pace advantage they have over the likes of Sauber, Aston Martin, Alpine and RB.
And he seemed to be doing enough to sneak through until the Haas of Kevin Magnussen struck a bollard on his own preparation lap whilst trying to avoid impeding the seven-time world champion.
Ironically, his efforts to avoid impeding did the exact opposite as the bollard slipped under the front-wing of Hamilton and saw him eliminated by a narrow 0.093 and he was left gutted as he bemoans his own bad luck as his final Mercedes qualifying ends in disaster.
“Just my luck, but it’s okay,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. “We tried so hard with the set-up. We got the car in a great place.
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“And it was looking good in P3 so I was really thinking ‘maybe a podium is possible this weekend.
“Then the timing was not optimised with the session because I was the last one on the track and obviously I ended up behind one of the Alpines right at the end, so I just ran out of time.”
The seven-time world champion was eliminated in 18th but will move up to 16th once penalties are applied to Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon for extra car components beyond the amount permitted by FIA regulations.
Can Hamilton rescue his F1 2024 Abu Dhabi GP?
The bad luck with the bollard sort of sums up how Hamilton’s F1 2024 season has gone besides that three race spell when he claimed two Grand Prix wins including that one at Silverstone in July’s British GP.
So once again he is tasked with a charge back through the field in order to salvage his weekend and despite the disappointment of his fourth Q1 exit of the season, he remained surprisingly optimistic and upbeat regarding a recovery drive.
“I’ll try to,” Hamilton said to Sky of a potential recovery. “As I said, the car has been feeling decent.
“To go from FP1 [and] FP2 [when] I was always relatively in the top five to then be in 18th definitely changes the look into the weekend, but I’m still trying to be really present. I’m still really grateful.
“The car has been completely different this weekend, it’s been so much nicer to drive, so my hopes were high but it is what it is. I’ll try to come back from that.”
