Lewis Hamilton’s qualifying chances were let down by a plastic bollard on track that had been ripped from its position by Kevin Magnussen. It proceeded to get lodged under Hamilton’s W15 for the entirety of his final Q1 run – ultimately affecting his lap time and his finishing position.

Lewis was also sent out late for his final run seemingly using a set up that was an experiment for next season, according to Toto Wolff. 

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 following this result, Mercedes’ team boss Toto Wolff said, “I just need to apologise to Lewis. Also to everyone in the team that worked so hard in making it a great end for him. He was the quicker guy with that kind of setup we chose on the car also to experiment for next year and we totally let him down.”

He continued, “An idiotic mistake in not going earlier. Inexcusable. Inexcusable. I have rarely been so down about what has happened. Maybe summarises the last races we have had with him but this is the worst part of it because it was just idiotic.”

Running experimental setups on the departing driver’s side is not atypical, but Lewis had been quicker than George Russell through the session and in Russell’s words, “he was ahead of me all weekend”. 

Toto admitted that this choice was a mistake, saying “you don’t risk so much in a Q1 when we had the pace to make it out of the session. The most valuable driver for the team and the sport is out in Q1…I can only say sorry to him.”

Hamilton himself said “you couldn’t have timed it better, that bollard, it was meant to be”. “I was really hopeful, I really thought that we had a chance at getting a podium,” he said.

“But I know I did everything right and I’m confident that I’ve taken the right steps this weekend so I will try and fight from there.”

Lewis will move up the grid once grid penalties for both Williams drivers and Charles Leclerc are applied, but even so, a podium will be a difficult task.