Lewis Hamilton’s upbeat mood post Silverstone GP win turned sour as he crashed in qualifying for the German Grand Prix.
A front-right brake failure at 130mph sent Hamilton heading towards the tyre barriers the Mercedes GP driver was powerless to prevent the inevitable collision, it was a heavy impact.
The Englishman, who will start 15th on the grid, was seen to walk away from the crash but was subsequently transferred to the medical center as a precaution.
Team mate Nico Rosberg was served pole position on a plate as Hamilton looked sure to be on pole for Sunday’s race posting a fast time the lap prior to his crash. The Williams pairing of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa will start second and third respectively.
Hamilton crashed as he raced towards the Sachskurve hairpin, not long after a shaken Hamilton was heard over the radio saying “I hit the brakes and the brakes failed.”
After being released from the medical center Hamilton talked to the awaiting press: “I’ve got a little bit of pain but that’s what usually happens when you have a crash like that,” he said.
“I think they said I pulled like 30Gs or something. But it’s OK – even if something’s broken I’ll still be driving tomorrow.”
“Things like this happen, things for whatever reason are sent to try us,” he added. “The guys worked so hard over the evening, they were up really late last night.”
McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen was fourth ahead of the two Red Bulls, again the team was led by Daniel Ricciardo with world champion Sebastian Vettel in fifth followed by the struggling but slightly improved Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.
Jenson Button stumbled to 11th on the grid, his McLaren team mate Magnussen was elected by the team to use a new rear wing.
Whilst Button complained about a poor balance it seems the performance of the new rear wing had an effect in boosting Magnussen‘s performance, still not enough to threaten the Mercedes GP team.
Hamilton will seek to gain as many points as possible for Sunday’s race, victory now looks unlikely from so far down the grid.
