Lewis Hamilton in SHOCK exit from sprint qualifying in Mercedes HORROR SHOW

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton in SHOCK exit from sprint qualifying in Mercedes HORROR SHOW

The Mercedes man could not find the grip in tricky conditions and qualified down in 18th

Joe Ellis

Saturday 1 July 2023 12:21 Updated: 19:50

Lewis Hamilton was knocked out of sprint qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix in the first session to start 18th on the grid.

The Brit had done a lap good enough for sixth but his time was deleted for track limits and he ended the session in the bottom five.

It had looked like Carlos Sainz would be knocked out but he went fastest with his only lap of the session.

Mercedes nightmare

As if a Q1 exit for Hamilton wasn't bad enough for the Silver Arrows, things got even worse in Q2 as Russell's W14 suffered a hydraulics issue.

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The 25-year-old reported the problem at the end of Q1 and the Mercedes mechanics could not fix the problem, leaving Russell to start the sprint from 15th on the grid.

The shortened race is likely to prevent Mercedes from scoring any big points in the sprint but Hamilton is at least in the top five for the Sunday race.

Russell, though, is enduring a really tough weekend after he missed out on Q3 in Friday's session too.