Hamilton set to start just 14th after car failure
Thursday 6 December 2018 15:02, UK
Sebastian Vettel will start Sunday's German GP on pole position, adding to the pain of title rival Lewis Hamilton on a day of misery for the Mercedes driver at Hockenheim.
Hamilton's car broke down at the end of Q1, condemning the reigning world champion to an early exit and inflicting what may prove to be a heavy blow to his hopes of landing a fifth world championship ahead of Vettel.
With Ferrari's rivals already perplexed by the Scuderia's recent power surge, Vettel was faultless on his final run in the top-10 shootout to snatch back pole position from Valtteri Bottas.
The Finn briefly held provisional pole ahead of Vettel following his own final run but Vettel then uncorked a new lap record of 1:11.212 to claim his 55th F1 pole position by two tenths of a second.
Kimi Raikkonen was third quickest, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen fourth.
Hamilton's car breaks down in qualifying
"When you're fighting for a championship this close, you can't afford days like this," said Hamilton.
In what may prove a lasting image of the season, Hamilton slumped by the side of his Mercedes after his car was wheeled off the track, apparently inconsolable.
"I've never seen body language like this from Lewis," said Sky F1 pundit and Hamilton's former team-mate Nico Rosberg. "This is a huge setback."
The world champion is set to start 14th, provided Mercedes do not uncover further damage to his car which may trigger a demotion to the back row alongside Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
Mercedes later confirmed that the cause of Hamilton's exit was a hydraulics fault, adding they do not expect any further issues with the gearbox and power unit.
"You put so much preparation in, everyone works so hard, and then to go out early in qualifying is a bit of a shock," said Hamilton. "Your heart sinks and sometimes you just can't believe things unfold the way they do, but all you can do is suck it up."
What they said after qualifying
Pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel: "It was amazing to see so many red flags, German flags, so much support around the track. I felt in Q1 that the car could do it and sometimes you just know. It just kept getting better and better and I knew in the last lap I had more in me and I was able to squeeze everything out. I'm very happy."
Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene: "I think Sebastian did a great, great lap. Maybe it's because it's his home grand prix. It's a pity for Hamilton. Because good sport is when all the fighters are on the track."
Mercedes chief Toto Wolff: "The issue was that we seemed to have damaged a bit of the car jumping over a kerb and that caused a hydraulic leak, but the car is just coming back so we need to check whether that was really the case. Then obviously we were not good enough on pace to get on pole."
Lewis Hamilton: "I didn't really understand exactly what had happened so in my mind I was thinking get the car back to the track, but they asked me to turn the car off. I jumped out and wanted to push it back but it was so far to go."
Haas best of the rest as Vandoorne suffers again
During a dramatic qualifying hour at Hockenheim:
* For the fourth race in a row, both Ferrari-powered Haas cars made the top ten as Kevin Magnussen headed an all-Haas third row.
* Charles Leclerc impressed yet again, beating Sauber team-mate Marcus Ericsson by seven tenths before landing ninth on the grid.
* Stoffel Vandoorne was slowest of all in the McLaren and now trails team-mate Fernando Alonso 0-11 in qualifying this year.
* Esteban Ocon was the surprise early casualty in Q1 while Sergey Sirotkin reached Q2 to bring a glimmer of relief at Williams.
* Nico Hulkenberg beat Carlos Sainz to seventh in the battle of the Renault drivers but was aided by a new front-wing.
