Lewis Hamilton’s worst Abu Dhabi GP fear comes true as George Russell delivers F1 blow

Lewis Hamilton declared “there’s something not right with this car” after a dismal result in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying, condemned to starting outside the top 10

Lewis Hamilton failed to qualify in the top 10 for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as team-mate George Russell condemned him to a Q2 exit.

Hamilton was left worried about his chances in qualifying this weekend after a dismal day on Friday. “We have had difficult qualifying sessions this year and getting out of Q1 and into Q2 has always been a tough battle, and getting into Q3 is a challenge,” he warned.

“The work tomorrow is to try and get into Q3. But it is going to be close.” And close it proved to be as Hamilton was knocked out in Q2 by going just 11th fastest, agonisingly close to reaching the top 10.

For a while he was hovering on the edge of the danger zone and looked like he might have survived. But there was still one car left on track on a flying lap at the end of Q2 – his team-mate Russell.

His fellow Brit had to make sure he booked his own place in Q3. And he did exactly that with a strong lap, but the unfortunate side-effect for Mercedes was that it meant Hamilton would play no further part.

The seven-time world champion may have expected a tough evening at the Yas Marina Circuit, but that did not make him sound any less despondent over the radio after the bad news had been delivered to him.

“”Man, this car isn’t working right,” he bemoaned to his race engineer Peter Bonnington. Luckily, Hamilton’s final qualifying session with the unreliable Mercedes W14 will never come around.

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