Bollard which caused Hamilton’s Q1 exit ‘couldn’t have been timed more perfect’ · RaceFans

Lewis Hamilton said it was “just my luck” after a strange incident with a bollard led to his elimination in the first round of qualifying in his final grand prix as a Mercedes driver.

His final run was compromised from the beginning as he found himself in a queue of cars and had to run close behind Jack Doohan’s Alpine.

He was on course to improve his time but suffered a bizarre incident at the end of his lap. It began when Hamilton caught Kevin Magnussen as they passed through the left-handers which leads drivers under the hotel.

While the Haas driver jumped to the inside of turn 14 to allow Hamilton past, he knocked a bollard loose at the inside of the corner. It fell into the path of Hamilton’s car, which collected it on the W15’s T-tray.

“You couldn’t have timed it more perfect, that bollard,” said Hamilton. “It was meant to be.

“I was really hopeful, I really thought that we had a chance at getting the podium. The car was feeling good but it wasn’t meant to be in the end. I know I did everything right, and I’m confident that I’ve taken the right steps this weekend. So we’ll try and fight from there.”

Hamilton set a 1’23.887 with his last run, which left him 18th, just under a tenth of a second away from beating Fernando Alonso to the final place in Q2.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

“It’s just my luck, but it’s okay,” he told Sky afterwards. “We tried so hard with 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 was possible this weekend.

“Then the timing was not optimised for the session. I was the last one on the track, and obviously I ended up behind one of the Alpines right in the end, so I just ran out of time.”

Hamilton qualified 18th. However he stands to gain two places from drivers ahead with grid penalties: Alexander Albon and Charles Leclerc.

This article will be updated