Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff apologized to Lewis Hamilton on Saturday for a strategy mistake that cost him during qualifying for his final race with the Formula 1 team.
Hamilton was one of five drivers eliminated in the first part of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying after his last lap was ruined when he drove over a marker pole that had been knocked onto the track by Kevin Magnussen’s car.
Wolff said the team “shouldn’t have been risking so much” by sending Hamilton out late in the session, with no room for error.
“We need to apologize to Lewis and everyone in the team who has worked so hard to deliver a great final weekend for him here in Abu Dhabi,” Wolff said.
“He has been quick across all three practice sessions and was looking good for a strong result tomorrow. Sadly, we totally let him down at the end of Q1. We made the mistake of not sending the drivers out early enough.”
Hamilton will start 16th on the grid for Sunday’s race, partly due to penalties for other drivers. His Mercedes teammate, George Russell, qualified seventh and will start sixth. Lando Norris will start in pole position for McLaren.
“It is obviously really frustrating,” Hamilton said. “It is difficult to say what would have been possible if we had made it through to the final part of qualifying. We have been looking good across the practice sessions, so I think we could have challenged for the first couple of rows.”
Hamilton’s move to Ferrari for 2025 was announced in February, and the seven-time world champion said on Thursday he’d underestimated the emotional strain of spending the entire season with Mercedes before leaving.
