Hamilton hits out at POINTLESS sprint race after horror qualifying session

Lewis Hamilton has claimed that the Austrian sprint race "doesn't really matter" after he suffered a shock exit in qualifying.

Hamilton will start the sprint race in 18th as the seven-time world champion saw a lap time deleted for exceeding track limits ensuring that he tumbled down the order.

Having run out of time to improve his lap time, the 38-year-old will have to pull off a minor miracle to fight his way through the grid and up into the points during the 24-lap sprint on Saturday afternoon.

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Yet rather than be too downbeat at the situation, the Mercedes man has claimed that the sprint was never his priority, as he looks to enjoy himself from the back of the grid.

Hamilton: 'Sprint race is pointless'

“Timing was not right," he told Sky Sports. "Sprint race doesn’t really matter anyways, so today [I'll] just have some fun from the back and it is what it is. I don’t really feel any way about it to be honest. I wish I was still out there, but not today.

“There’s nothing really to say. Just that we will focus on our job today and could’ve easily been much further up there, but yeah, I'll just have a bit of fun at the back."

Things were not much better for team-mate George Russell either, as the man from King's Lynn suffered a hydraulics issue with his W14.

This resulted in him failing to take part in SQ2, meaning he will start the sprint down in 15th, just three places ahead of Hamilton.

For the grand prix itself, Russell qualified in 11th, while for Hamilton things are somewhat better as he will line up in fifth for Sunday's main event.

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