In Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Toto Wolff extended an apology to Lewis Hamilton for a significant "idiotic" error by Mercedes during the Formula One qualifying. This mistake will see the seven-time world champion starting 16th in his final race with the team. Hamilton was eliminated in the first stage of qualifying at the Yas Marina Circuit as he failed to better his final lap time, leaving him 18th in the standings. He was sent out rather late to complete his final run, encountering a number of slowly moving cars. Subsequently, a bollard became stuck under his Mercedes car after it was dislodged by Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, who was attempting to avoid him.

Impact on Hamilton's Final Race

Hamilton will gain two positions on the starting grid due to penalties for Alex Albon and Charles Leclerc. However, he still faces a challenging task in his 246th and final Mercedes appearance. Speaking on Sky Sports after qualifying, an emotional Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, expressed his remorse. "I just need to apologize to Lewis and everyone in the team who worked so hard to make this a great end for him. He was the quicker driver with the setup we chose for the car. It was an experiment for next year, and we completely let him down. It was an idiotic mistake not to send him out earlier. It's inexcusable. I rarely feel this down about what has happened. Maybe it summarizes the last races with him, but this is the worst part as it was just so stupid."

Mercedes' Mistake and Legacy

Hamilton and Mercedes are set to conclude their 12-year partnership in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. This partnership has witnessed six drivers' championship victories and 84 race wins. Wolff emphasized that even without the bollard incident, Mercedes was wrong to risk sending Hamilton out so late when the car had the pace to fight for a better position. "You don't risk so much in a Q1 when we clearly had the pace to make it through. Our most valuable racing driver ever, the greatest driver in this sport, gets eliminated in Q1 because of a mistake. It doesn't undermine all the legacy we have with him, but I can only say sorry to him."

Hamilton's Perspective

After the qualifying session, Hamilton remained relatively calm, calling it an "unfortunate session." He stated that the pace of the car felt better than in recent races where he had faced more difficulties. "The car was feeling really good in general. In FP3, I was third. So honestly, I thought we were going to be fighting for a podium, and my race pace was second-quickest. But it wasn't meant to be." Despite knowing the car's pace, Hamilton acknowledged that it won't be easy to overtake tomorrow. He expressed hope that he could recover to the top 10 and score some points. When asked how he expected to feel waking up on Sunday for his final Mercedes F1 race, he replied, "It'll be like I made it. I survived a very, very hardcore year. And although I'm sad not to be racing anymore this year, hopefully, next year comes around soon enough. I'm just going to miss all these people I got to work with."