Lewis Hamilton says bollard strike “just my luck” in nightmare qualifying

Lewis Hamilton says getting a loose bollard trapped under his car was “just my luck” as his final F1 qualifying for Mercedes ended in a disastrous Q1 exit.

The seven-time world champion suffered a nightmare last qualifying outing for Mercedes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after being dumped out of the first session with the 18th-fastest time.

A flying bollard, which was dislodged by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen as he tried to move out of the way for Hamilton, was flung into the path of the 39-year-old Briton and managed to get stuck under his W15.

Hamilton said the trapped bollard cost him downforce through the final two corners of the lap as he missed the cut to advance into Q2 by just 0.093 seconds.

"Just my luck, but it's ok,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

"We tried so hard with the set-up, we got the car in a great place, 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.”

Hamilton’s ‘hopes were high’

Hamilton will start Sunday’s grand prix - his last with Mercedes - 16th after being promoted two positions thanks to grid drops for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon’s Williams.

Hamilton had hopes of ending his illustrious Mercedes stint with a podium in Abu Dhabi but insists he remains determined to finish on a high, despite the disappointing qualifying result.

"I'll try to. As I said, the car has been feeling decent.

"To go from P1, P2 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."