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

Lewis Hamilton insisted there is “something wrong with this car” after a disappointing qualifying result at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton missed out on a top-ten finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after team-mate George Russell was forced to retire in the second quarter.

Hamilton was worried about his chances of qualifying this weekend after a dark day on Friday. “This year we had a tough qualifying session, it was always difficult to get into the first and second quarters and it was also difficult to get into the third,” he warned.

“Tomorrow’s task is to get to the third quarter. But it’s going to be close.” And the result was close as Hamilton went from 11th in the second quarter to agonizingly close to the top 10.

For a moment he hovered at the edge of the danger zone and seemed to survive. But during a flying lap late in the second quarter, there was one car left on the track: his teammate Russell.

His compatriot had to secure his place in the third quarter. And although they did it with a strong lap, the downside for Mercedes was that Hamilton was no longer doing his job.

The seven-time world champion was expecting a tough night at Yas Marina Circus, but she wasn’t on the radio after the bad news. “There’s something wrong with this car.” He complained to race engineer Peter Bonnington. Fortunately, this was the last qualifying session where Hamilton had to do away with his temperamental Mercedes W14.