Hamilton reveals final Mercedes wish after qualifying tragedy

Lewis Hamilton has stated he is aiming to reach the points in his final race for Mercedes following his disastrous qualifying outing in Abu Dhabi.

The seven-time world champion failed to improve on his fastest lap time at the end of Q1 when a bollard became stuck underneath his car.

The bollard was pitched onto the racing line by Magnussen who scrambled off the track to get out of the way of Hamilton as he sped through the third sector.

It marked a disappointing final qualifying for Hamilton at Mercedes ahead of his switch to Ferrari next season – however the 39-year-old asserted he is not feeling too downcast over the situation.

“I don’t have any emotions,” he told media including RacingNews365. “I’m pretty chill. It was an unfortunate session and I got the bollard under the car.

“The car was feeling really good in general. FP3, I was third, and so I honestly thought we were going to be fighting for the podium and my race pace was second quickest, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

As he concedes a trip to the podium is out of the equation, Hamilton voiced his desire to reach the top 10 in his final race for Mercedes.

“I’ve just been very present,” he said. I’ve been enjoying every moment. I’ve got the car in a really good place with the set-up changes we’ve been making.

“The car has been completely different to the last five races this weekend, and it’s been feeling really great. And so it is unfortunate.

“It’s not going to be easy to overtake tomorrow, but I’ll work on strategy now and instead of fighting for a podium, if I can get into the top 10, that would be amazing.”