Bollard incident in qualifying cost Hamilton shot at final Mercedes win

Lewis Hamilton’s bizarre incident with a bollard during qualifying cost him a chance to win his final race for Mercedes, team principal Toto Wolff believes.

Wolff fumed over the team’s strategy after Hamilton was eliminated in the first round of qualifying, which left him 16th on the grid. Mercedes sent both their drivers out late in Q1, giving them the chance to benefit from improving track conditions, though it left both vulnerable to traffic.

Nonetheless Hamilton was on course to improve his time on his final lap when he encountered Kevin Magnussen at turn 14. The Haas driver dived out of his way, taking to the run-off area at the inside of the corner, but sent a bollard flying into the Mercedes’ path.

Hamilton’s car collected the bollard on the front of its floor. This disrupted the car’s aerodynamics and caused minor damage – Mercedes replaced the right-hand side front wheel deflector on his car before the grand prix.

While Hamilton failed to make the cut for Q2 by less than a tenth of a second, team mate George Russell made it through and went on to qualify sixth. Despite starting 10 places apart, Hamilton caught his team mate and passed him on the final lap to finish fourth, 36 seconds behind race winner Lando Norris.

Had Hamilton started further up the grid, Wolff believes he would have been racing Norris and the Ferrari drivers who occupied the podium places.

“Without the bollard getting in Lewis’s way yesterday in qualifying, I think he could have fought for victory,” said Wolff. “He was quick throughout today and made the alternative strategy work well.

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“He drove like a world champion. That is befitting of our time together and a real statement.”

The team’s trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said they could take satisfaction from how they responded to Saturday’s disappointment. “We can hold our heads high in how we responded,” he said.

“Lewis completed a drive worthy of our incredible 12-year journey together. He used the offset hard-medium strategy to great effect, calmly and methodically working his way through the field, before deploying the medium compound in the final stint. He worked his way past multiple cars, dropped the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and produced a great move to take P4 on the final lap.

“Whilst we would have all loved to have…