Lewis Hamilton says that he is “incredibly disappointed” with himself after he crashed out of qualifying in Austria on Friday.
Hamilton lost control of his car as he rounded Turn 7 at the Red Bull Ring and skated through the gravel before making heavy contact with the wall.
The crash occurred during Q3, and Hamilton was shuffled down to 10th place by the time the chequered flag was waved.
Hamilton asserted after the session that he has suffered no injuries from the shunt, stating “it was a big hit but I’m OK.”
It marked the first time that Hamilton has crashed out of qualifying since the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix.
“I’m incredibly disappointed in myself, ultimately,” Hamilton said. “I’m so sorry to the team, everyone worked so hard to put this car together.
“I never like to damage it or bring it back damaged. We were fighting for a top three I think, and I don’t have an answer – I just lost the back end in Turn 7 and that was that.”
Prior to Hamilton’s crash, Mercedes displayed strong pace throughout the day, having endured a difficult start to the 2022 campaign.
With the sport seeing a shorter race on Saturday to determine Sunday’s grand prix starting order as part of the Sprint format, Hamilton is hopeful that he has pace to move forward during both races.
“I’m in encouraged, for sure,” he said. “I am encouraged of course to see our performance, we were not expecting to be as close as that today so that’s a huge positive from the team.
“But I’m really quite far back, so I don’t know what’s possible from there but we have a Sprint race as well so I hope that tomorrow I can make up some lost time.”
Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell also ended Q3 with a crash, sliding off the track at Turn 10 after the session was resumed.
