Lewis Hamilton was left frustrated in qualifying in Abu Dhabi after a stray plastic bollard became stuck under his car for the last part of his final lap in Q1.
Hamilton hit it after it was dislodged by Kevin Magnussen, who had cut across the inside of a corner in an effort to get out of the way.
Hamilton was left stranded in 18th at the end of the session, but he gains two places thanks to penalties for Alex Albon and Charles Leclerc.
In contrast to his struggling team mate George Russell Hamilton was happy with his W15 after making set-up changes through the weekend, and thought he was in the fight for the top three.
He made his frustration clear on team radio, although later he downplayed his disappointment.
“I don’t have that many emotions,” he said when asked by AutoRacer.it about his feelings in the circumstances. “I’m pretty chilled. It was an unfortunate session, and I got the bollard under the car.”
Hamilton acknowledged the special circumstances of his last weekend with Mercedes.
“I think for me I’ve just been very present, I’ve been enjoying every moment,” he said. “I’ve got the car in a really good place, the set up changes we’ve been making.
“The car has been completely different to the last five races this weekend, it’s been feeling really great. And so it is unfortunate.”
He noted that he’d been losing out in the slow last sector of the lap.
“That’s where we struggled the most as a team this weekend, but the car was feeling really good in general. In P3 I was third, and so I honestly, I thought we’re going to be fighting for podium, and my race pace was second quickest.”
He added: “It’s not going to be easy to overtake tomorrow. I’ve got to work on strategy now, and instead of fighting for a podium, let’s see how far I can get. If I can get into the top 10, that would be amazing.”
Asked how he might feel on Sunday he said: “It’s going to be like, I made it. I survived a very, very hardcore year. And kind of, I’m going to be sad not to be racing anymore this year, but hopefully next year comes around soon enough, and I’m just going to miss all these people that I got to work with.”
