Mercedes were left shocked as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell showed the red flags in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring.
Both Mercedes drivers dropped out of qualifying in the closing minutes of the Q3 session, bringing out red flags.
Hamilton was on a pushing lap with five minutes remaining in the Q3 session when he lost control of the rear of his W13 through the high-speed Turn 7.
Spinning into a skid in an attempt to salvage the situation by driving through the gravel, Hamilton’s speed was too great for him to scrape fast enough to avoid hitting the barriers on the exit of the corner.
Hamilton quickly confirmed on team radio that he was uninjured in the incident and pitted while the session was red-flagged to collect his car and reorganize the tire barriers.
The Mercedes driver was quick to apologize for what appeared to be driver error, taking to the radio to say: “I’m so sorry guys. I am very sorry for damaging the car.”
As a result of the crash, Hamilton looks likely to start Saturday’s sprint qualifying from eighth or lower after looking set to put in enough competitive time to challenge for the front row.
“Where did we end up? What position am I in?” Hamilton could be heard asking over the team radio before exiting his damaged W13.
When the session resumed, George Russell was about to complete a flying lap when he lost control of the rear of his W13 at Turn 10 and slid backwards into the tire barriers. The session was immediately spotted again as a disconsolate Russell returned to the pits.
RED FLAG
Hamilton in the barriers. He radios that he’s fine #AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/yyTtcaN9h0
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 8, 2022
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