‘I messed up big time’ – Lewis Hamilton has nightmare final qualifying for Mercedes as he crashes out in Q1 in Abu Dhabi

LEWIS HAMILTON’S final race weekend for Mercedes started in the worst manner possible after he was eliminated from the first qualifying session.

Hamilton is racing his final weekend with the Silver Arrows after a glittering 11-year career, but declared “I messed up big time guys” as he qualified 18th for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi season finale.

GettyLewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q1 of his final race weekend with Mercedes[/caption]

APIt was his lowest ever qualifying result in Abu Dhabi[/caption]

The 39-year-old would have been looking to end his Mercedes career on a high before his blockbuster move to Ferrari next year.

However, Hamilton came unstuck around the Yas Marina circuit as a bollard got stuck under his car in the final few corners of his push lap, causing him to lack the speed to escape the drop zone.

The Brit had unluckily followed Haas star Kevin Magnussen – who is also on his last race with his team – through a corner after he had knocked the bollard down.

And his time of 1:12.887 saw him miss out on Q2 by 0.093s and was only enough for P18, his lowest-ever qualifying result at Abu Dhabi.

Speaking on the team radio following the failed lap, Hamilton said: “I messed that up big time guys. F***ing hell.

“That was bad man, jesus.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff replied: “Yeah s*** Lewis that was bad.” 

His P18 in qualifying means Hamilton will start ahead of only Alpine rookie Jack Doohan and Williams driver Franco Colapinto.

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Meanwhile, he will have Zhou Guanyu and Alex Albon of Sauber and Williams respectively directly ahead of him.

After winning six world drivers titles with Mercedes, Hamilton’s final three races with the team have seen him score three Q1 eliminations in his final six races.

It took 171 races for Hamilton to be eliminated three from Q1 before this run.

Reacting to his elimination afterwards, Hamilton told BBC 5 Live: “You couldn’t make it up, you really couldn’t, but it is what it is. We gave it everything, I gave it everything, the car was in a good place.

“Every practice session went well, I was ahead of my team-mate all weekend but when we got to qualifying I think as a team we didn’t perform in terms of the timing.

“I was the last car on track and ran out of time ultimately, and then I got the bollard at the end which went under the car and I lost all downforce so it couldn’t have gone worse really.”

On it being his last weekend with Mercedes, he added: “Every day and more than ever I’ve just tried to be really present… just trying to take it in because it’s the last time we will be racing and driving in Silver Arrows and it’s all my wins, all my success through my life so every moment is a special moment and I would have loved to get a podium for the guys this weekend and it just didn’t work out.”

Despite his qualifying horror show, Hamilton will start ahead of his future Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc after he was eliminated in Q2 and will take a 10-place grid drop for taking a new battery.