"I feel bad for Lewis" - Wolff

Following yet another mechanical failure for his Mercedes in Q1, Lewis Hamilton was left to watch the remainder of the qualifying session from the sidelines.

It was confirmed shortly after the incident that it was a fuel leak to blame for Hamilton's demise, which saw flames billowing out of the rear of his car. The Briton, however, remained calm in the circumstances but was still visibly frustrated after shaking his head whilst walking away from the burning W05.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Mercedes Executive Director, Toto Wolff was understandably just as irritated following the problem and when asked about the cause of the problem he said, "We haven't seen it yet, we haven't analysed the car."

He continued, "I feel so bad for Lewis, this is such a tight championship. He was unlucky in Hockenheim with the brake failure and now we've had another reliability issue which docked his qualifying. He was so strong throughout the weekend, so I'm gutted".

Despite this though, Wolff was positive that the team would be able to resolve their reliability issues during the summer break.

Hamilton's fiery exit means that the Mercedes AMG mechanics will have to work through the night in order to repair the car in time for tomorrow's race, where the Briton is expected to start from the pit-lane due to a gearbox and potential power unit change.

Tom Brooks
Chief UK Editor

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