ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — On Saturday, Toto Wolff, the team principal of Mercedes, issued an apology to Lewis Hamilton after a strategic blunder resulted in Hamilton qualifying in 18th place for what will be his final race with the Formula 1 team.

During the qualifying session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton was one of the five drivers who failed to progress beyond the initial round. His last attempt was marred when he drove over a marker pole that had been displaced onto the track by the car of Kevin Magnussen.

Wolff expressed regret over the team’s decision-making, acknowledging that they “shouldn’t have been risking so much” by allowing Hamilton to hit the track at the last moment, leaving little room for any mistakes.

He stated, “We need to apologize to Lewis and everyone in the team who has worked so hard to deliver a great final weekend for him here in Abu Dhabi. He has been quick across all three practice sessions and was looking good for a strong result tomorrow. Sadly, we totally let him down at the end of Q1. We made the mistake of not sending the drivers out early enough.”

Due to penalties issued to other drivers, Hamilton will be starting from 16th on the grid for the upcoming race, while his Mercedes teammate, George Russell, qualified in seventh place and will commence the race from sixth. McLaren’s Lando Norris secured the pole position.

Hamilton expressed his frustration, saying, “It is obviously really frustrating. It is difficult to say what would have been possible if we had made it through to the final part of qualifying. We have been looking good across the practice sessions so I think we could have challenged for the first couple of rows.”

In February, it was announced that Hamilton would be switching to Ferrari starting in 2025. Just days before, he admitted that he had underestimated the emotional toll of spending an entire season with Mercedes before moving on.