Wolff says Mercedes error that cost Hamilton was…

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has apologised to Lewis Hamilton for the “idiotic” mistake that led to the seven-time champion being dumped out in Q1 for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s hopes of delivering a strong result in his final race weekend for Mercedes already appear to be over after he ended up P18 in qualifying, having failed to make it through to Q2. He will start P16 thanks to penalties for Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon.

While Hamilton's hopes were not helped by him striking a bollard that had been flung in to his path by the Haas of Kevin Magnussen near the end of his lap, Wolff thinks a much bigger factor was that Mercedes had left things so late for their drivers to get their final runs in.

That left Hamilton exposed to more traffic than if he had gone earlier, which was proven with the Magnussen bollard incident.

Speaking to Sky, Wolff said he was angry about what had happened and said there was no excuse for what the team had done.

“I just need to apologise to Lewis, and also to everyone in the team that worked so hard in making it a great end for him,” explained Wolff.

“He was the quicker guy with that kind of set-up that we choose on the car, also to experiment for next year, and we totally let him down.

“An idiotic mistake of not going earlier. Inexcusable. Inexcusable. I have rarely been so down about what happened.

“It maybe summarises the last races we had with him. But this is the worst part of it, because it was just idiotic.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15 (Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images)

Wolff said that while it is obvious that running late offers potentially better track conditions, doing so in Q1 when all that is needed is to set a top 15 time meant it was foolish to risk not going early.

“I think we were lucky that they, both of them, wrestled their way through the other traffic,” he said. “And then maybe without the bollard, it would have worked.

“But you don't risk so much in a Q1 where we had easy the pace to make it out there.

“Our most valuable racing driver ever, the most valuable and greatest driver of this sport, gets out in Q1 because we make a mistake. A dilettante mistake that doesn't ruin all the legacy we have with him, but I can only say sorry to him.”

Hamilton reckoned that based on his pace in practice he had looked on course to challenge for a podium finish behind McLaren.

However, Wolff said all hope of that was now gone with him starting so far back.

“His pace was there,” he said. “We would have had a real go for a podium. He was P3 this morning, and now it's pretty much impossible from where he comes.”