Lewis Hamilton crashes in Monaco as Mercedes given F1 qualifying headache

Lewis Hamilton crashed in Monaco Grand Prix practice just hours before qualifying this afternoon. Hamilton lost control of his rear end in the braking zone at the tight right hander at Mirabeau. 

However, he over-corrected the slide and collided with the wall on the outside of the corner. The session was immediately red flagged with just a few minutes remaining as Hamilton climbed out of the car and over the barrier.

His Mercedes race engineer Peter Bonnington confirmed the car was damaged in the collision but hinted the team would get the damage fixed ahead of qualifying. 

In a team radio message, Hamiltons said: “Sorry about that, mate.” But Bonnington simply replied: “No worries, we’ll sort it.” His Mercedes race engineer Peter Bonnington confirmed the car was damaged in the collision. Former F1 star Anthony Davidson revealed the issue started early on in the corner. 

Brundle commented: “He lost the rear on the way in. The rear massively stepped out. I wondered if he was going to spin the car, but it looks like he’s caught the slide and has sent him on the wrong trajectory.”

The incident prevented Hamilton from setting a better lap time and ended the session early, preventing drivers from completing their quick runs. Hamilton had just set the fastest first sector moments before his collision giving the team some hope heading into qualifying. 

Hamilton was eighth fastest in the final practice session with team-mate George Russell down in P11. The Silver Arrows are desperate for a strong weekend after introducing a series of new upgrades this weekend. 

Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle claimed Hamilton may have intentionally driven into the wall to prevent further damage. He explained: “I wonder if he realised I’m going in the wall. I need to go in with the front and not the back. The back will do a driveshaft and a gearbox. It looked like conscious decision to me.”

But, Jenson Button questioned whether Hamilton would have the time to think about making that call. Instead, the 2009 champion feels Hamilton was still trying to make the corner despite losing control. He also confirmed fixing the damage should not be too difficult despite the quick runaround before qualifying.

He added: “It looks like he was going to try and hold the oversteer through the corner because he’s turned in.

“As soon as he’s turned in it looks like he has rear movement and then it just carried on coming around and then at some point he has to counter steer and that’s what puts him in the wall. But, front left is not such an issue.”