Friday was anything but ideal for the Scuderia at their home game in Italy. Formula 1 record world champion Hamilton also disappointed in difficult conditions in Imola.
Carlos Sainz suffered a severe setback at the Ferrari home game. The 27-year-old Spaniard, whose contract had been extended until the end of 2024 before the Formula 1 race weekend in Imola, lost control of his car on the drying track of the Auotodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari and retired early in qualifying early on Friday evening.
His Ferrari slid sideways into the barriers, nothing happened to Sainz himself. The knockout, in which the starting grid for the first sprint this year on Saturday was determined, had to be interrupted for a few minutes.
Hamilton misses top ten in qualifying
Record world champion Lewis Hamilton missed the top ten in a qualification for the second time this year. The 37-year-old Briton finished 13th. Hamilton had previously saved himself in his Mercedes with great difficulty and a lead of four thousandths of a second in the second round of the knockout elimination. The seven-time champion had already failed to make it into the top ten in qualifying in Saudi Arabia.
Hamilton’s compatriot and new teammate, George Russell, also retired early in eleventh place. Between the two was Mick Schumacher. For the Haas pilot, the qualification, which this time served to determine the starting grid for the sprint on this Saturday, was also over before the final section.