“He’s finished” – Fans react as Lewis Hamilton’s Sprint Shootout performance plunges him to P18 for Saturday’s race

Lewis Hamilton and teammate George Russell to start Austria sprint from P15 and P18 respectively.

“He’s finished” – Fans react as Lewis Hamilton’s Sprint Shootout performance plunges him to P18 for Saturday’s race

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton (Image credit: SportsTiger)

After Mercedes dropped their zero-pod design, a new string of brilliant performances was seen by the Brackley team. The Silver Arrows opted for conventional sidepods on their W14 at the Monaco Grand Prix. Since then, Lewis Hamilton has secured a podium in Montreal and Barcelona. However, after a decent P5 qualifying result for the race, the 7-time world champion will start in P18 for the Austrian sprint race.

Hamilton had set the fastest lap time with an effort to make it into SQ2. The Brit had done a lap good enough for sixth, but his time was deleted for track limits, and he ended the session in the bottom five. However, during his run, the team abandoned his lap and made a pit stop to obtain another set of used soft tires.

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This decision prompted the British driver to voice his doubts over the team radio. In the latter stages of SQ1, Hamilton encountered difficulty setting a faster lap due to being released into traffic. To rub more salt into the wounds, Lewis might also be penalized after impeding Max Verstappen towards the end of SQ1.

FS Video

Also read: WATCH: “He is just a sore looser”- Max Verstappen impeding Lewis Hamilton during SQ1 as revenge for a previous incident at Austrian GP, F1 Twitter reacts

Fans blame Max Verstappen allegedly impeding for Lewis Hamilton’s SQ1 exit

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen (Image credit: Sky Sports)

Lewis’ poor sprint shootout performance lead plenty of fans to express their opinions via Twitter. While some users offered support and displayed optimistic views, others were quick to write off the 103-time Grand Prix winner.

One user Tweeted, “We gonna talk about max blatantly impeding him all the way through T1?” Stating that the 2-time world champion did indeed come in the way of Lewis Hamilton. Another user shared the same opinion suggesting Max Verstappen’s move deserved a penalty. “If Verstappen doesn’t get a penalty for impeding this sport is finished.”

A different, however, suggested that Hamilton could produce a good result despite the horrid shootout session. “Yep but be ready to witness his masterclass during the sprint race.” A similar tweet was uploaded by another user. “Last to first challenge to spice things up, my goat.” One cheeky user drew an unnecessary comparison to Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. Their Tweet read, “Where’s leclerc in the championship?”

To rub salt into the wounds, Lewis Hamilton’s teammate George Russell too, did not make it into the last stage of the shootout. After citing hydraulic issues, the 25-year-old was unable to set a faster lap putting his W-14 in P15.

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