Lewis Hamilton has admitted he would “be getting in the way” of Mercedes mechanics as he tried to chip in and help with the car’s rebuild. Hamilton was seen in the Mercedes garage on Friday watching his mechanics fix his car after his crash in qualifying yesterday.
The seven-time champion praised his team, stressing there “couldn’t be more to change”. Hamilton said he wished he could have helped his team prepare the car but admitted he would “just be getting in the way” of their work.
Speaking on a Mercedes social media video, Hamilton said: “Everyone’s doing such a good job. It’s just such a tall order. This whole change of chassis and everything. There couldn’t be more to change. I’m so proud of them. I wish I could help but I’d just be getting in the way.”
Due to F1’s curfew rules, Mercedes only had around six hours to prepare Hamilton’s car for FP2. The team were still working frantically on the car as practice began but Hamilton was able to get a run out in the last quarter of the session before starting the ninth for today’s sprint race.
READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton forced to replace ‘destroyed’ Mercedes car part
This threw the car sideways at turn seven and Hamilton dipped a wheel in the gravel as he tried to correct the slide. Moments later, the Mercedes champion slammed into the outside tire wall, destroying the front of his car.
Hamilton apologised to the team moments after the crash and again after the session. He explained: “I’m incredibly disappointed in myself ultimately and so sorry to the team. Everyone worked so hard to put the car together -and I never like to bring it back damaged.
“I don’t have an answer right now to what happened. I lost the back end in turn seven and that was that. I was encouraged to see our performance, though. I think we were fighting for a top three start – and we weren’t expecting to be that close.”
