Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton described his Mercedes car as “undriveable” on Saturday after qualifying only 14th on the grid for Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
It was the first time since the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix, where he crashed, that he had failed to progress from the Q1 section of a qualifying session and the first time since 2009 in Britain for only speed and performance reasons.
“Of course, I am very disappointed,” said Hamilton, who apologised to the team.
“We have a serious issue – something in the set-up – and it was looking good in P3 (practice) so I tried to progress further in a similar direction, but maybe went too far.
“The car was so nervous it was undriveable.”