A mistake of his own took Lewis Hamilton out of contention in Q3 qualifying on Friday (8) for the Austrian GP. In qualifying practice for Saturday's sprint race at the Red Bull Ring, the seven-time world champion slipped out at turn seven and stopped on the guard rail behind the gravel. The accident not only ended the Mercedes driver's session, but also badly damaged the German car.

After qualifying, which had Max Verstappen in pole-position, Hamilton could not justify what caused him to hit the barrier. In addition, the Briton regretted that he had to start from 10th place due to the accident - as he had not set a relevant time in the last part of qualifying.

"It was a big impact, but I'm fine. I'm very disappointed for myself. Many apologies to the team, who worked hard to put this car together. I never like to return it damaged. We were fighting for top-3 and I have no answer (for the accident). I lost the rear in turn seven and that was it," he tried to analyze.

Lewis Hamilton escapou na curva 7 e bateu durante o Q3 da classificação do GP da Áustria (Foto: Reprodução/F1) — Lewis Hamilton slipped at turn seven and crashed during Q3 of the Austrian GP qualifying (Photo: Reproduction/F1)

Hamilton, however, denied the 'devastated land' scenario. According to the seven-time champion, it was a surprise to see Mercedes' pace on the first day of action in Austria - and the driver plans to use the unexpected German speed to make up for the mistake in qualifying.

"I'm motivated, for sure, to see our performance. We weren't expecting to be as close as we were today. This is very positive for the team, but I'm starting very far back, so I don't know what will be possible from there. But we have the sprint race, so hopefully I can recover for the lost time," he added.

GRANDE PRÊMIO follows LIVE and INREAL TIME all the activities of the weekend's Austrian F1 GP. On Saturday, the second free practice opens the day at 7:30 AM (GMT-3). The sprint race starts at 11:30am.