Both Mercedes did not finish qualifying due to accidents, and Hamilton was the first to finish in the wall.
“The blow was strong, but I’m fine. I’m incredibly disappointed in myself and I feel sorry for the team that worked so hard. I don’t like to damage the car and cause them problems. I was in contention for the top 3, but I have no explanation for how I lost the back end. I am certainly encouraged by this kind of theme and we did not expect that, but on the other hand, I start far behind the leading group. The sprint race can certainly help us and we will see what can be done,” said Hamilton.
Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix in the guardrail, severely damaging their cars.
They are fortunately fine, but because of that they did not set good results in the Q3 part of the qualifiers.
First, control of the car was lost by Hamilton, who was not even saved by the gravel barriers, and then the red flags were displayed.
When the stewards removed his car, the drivers returned to the track, and then there were a little more than five minutes left until the end of qualifying.
While trying to set the best time, George Russell misjudged the path going into the final corner, spinning on the track and ending up in the barrier.
This led to another stoppage of time and red flags again, and when qualifying resumed, Max Verstappen set the best time before tomorrow’s sprint race ahead of the tandem of Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc – Carlos Sainz.
The most important thing is that both drivers quickly left the scene of the accident on their own, and immediately went to the pits, which means that they are fine, and the mechanics have a lot of work to do to prepare the cars for the continuation of the racing weekend.
