Arabian fright as Lewis flops in first round
Lewis Hamilton starts 16th on the grid at today’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after being knocked out at the first round of qualifying.
The struggling seventime world champ failed to produce a lap good enough to haul himself into the second round.
It’s the first time since Brazil in 2017 that Hamilton has fallen at the first hurdle to suffer a shock elimination.
It was only one of the shocks at the Jeddah street circuit as Mick Schumacher was airlifted to hospital following a terrifying 170mph crash.
Hamilton admitted he was battling with the balance of his Mercedes car through the whole session.
But no one could have predicted how far off he would be off the pace yesterday.
Hamilton was nearly seven-tenths slower than George Russell in the other Mercedes who qualified sixth.
Russell expressed sympathy for his teammate. He said: “We are one team and it wasn’t a good day.
“We don’t have the handle on the car at the moment, it’s been a bit inconsistent and we’re fighting this very small window.
“We’ve work to do. Lewis didn’t have the confidence in the car.”
Qualifying was halted after Schumacher, son of seven-time world champion Michael, crashed out heavily in his Haas.
The German hit the barriers hard through Turn 12 at high speed with the medical car immediately deployed.
Television cameras cut away from the scene and no replays were shown.
But Haas said the 23-year-old had been conscious before being taken to the medical centre and has escaped serious injury.
Schumacher’s machine was so badly damaged that it split in two as it was towed away by race crews.
The running was delayed for 57 minutes as the barriers were repaired and the debris from Schumacher’s accident cleared.
Following Hamilton’s early demise, it was Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who stole pole, edging out Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) by just 0.025 seconds.