Hamilton falls back to last place after contact with Magnussen

Lewis Hamilton had an unfortunate start to the Spanish Grand Prix. A few corners after the lights went out, the Mercedes driver had a moment of contact with Kevin Magnussen, after which the Briton suffered a puncture.

Contact between Hamilton and Magnussen

Magnussen ended up in the gravel box as a result of the incident and both drivers fell back to the back of the field. Hamilton then came in for a set of new tyres, while he was just the only driver on a different strategy.

Hamilton wants to throw in the towel

The Briton returned to the track in nineteenth place, almost a minute behind, and this was followed by a very striking message to his team. "I think we'd better save this engine," said Hamilton, who thinks there's no point in finishing the race from this position.

So Hamilton would rather throw in the towel, something we don't often hear from a Formula One driver. However, his engineer stresses that there may still be opportunities to come and so the Mercedes driver has to sit it out.

"Lewis knew what he was doing. He just ramped me"

No doubt in Magnussen's mind who was to blame for that incident pic.twitter.com/UwVeSoZuRl

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) May 22, 2022