Lewis Hamilton crashed out of final practice for the Monaco Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion lost control of his Mercedes through the right-hander Mirabeau and ended up in the wall.
Hamilton sustained front suspension damage in the low-speed accident with his Mercedes team now facing a race against time to repair his car for qualifying at 4pm local time (3pm Irish time).
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
Hamilton hits the barriers at Mirabeau#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/TdhgFodKAe— Formula 1 (@F1) May 27, 2023
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“Sorry about that, mate,” said Hamilton on the radio, shortly before trudging away from his broken machine with his hands behind his back.
“No worries, we will sort it,” replied Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington.
Hamilton was running in eighth place before he crashed out with just five minutes remaining.
After giving up on this season’s car on the eve of the opening race in Bahrain, Mercedes have spent the ensuing dozen weeks working on a new design philosophy.
A long walk back to the pits for Lewis
The session will not be resumed #MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/PpR2YdonclAdvertisement— Formula 1 (@F1) May 27, 2023
The Silver Arrows have abandoned their controversial zero-sidepod concept and introduced a new front suspension, new floor and cooling system in a drastic change of development on a car which has contributed to the longest losing streak of Hamilton’s career.
However, Hamilton was seven tenths behind Max Verstappen in the final running before qualifying, with the world champion heading a Red Bull one-two from team-mate Sergio Perez.
Lance Stroll finished third for Aston Martin, two tenths behind Verstappen with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz fourth and Lando Norris fifth for McLaren.
