Hamilton fails to advance beyond Q1 in qualifying Saudi Arabia

Saturday in Jeddah ended in drama for Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver was stranded already in Q1 and failed to reach the top 15. He was well over half-a-second behind teammate George Russell.

Hamilton will have to start the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia from the 16th place. In the final moments of Q1 he struggled to set a strong time.

With a lap time of 1:30.343 the number two of 2021 came more than six tenths short of teammate George Russell, who did advance to Q2. This is the first time in four years that Hamilton failed to advance beyond Q1. In Brazil 2017, he crashed during qualifying and had to start from the pits.