Hamilton: Practice crash was “innocent mistake”

Lewis Hamilton owned up to a mistake which led to his crash in second practice and forced him to sit out much of the session.

“I made a mistake in FP2 and damaged the car,” said the world championship leader. “The boys tried really hard to fix it, but there wasn’t enough time.

“I don’t remember the last time I missed a whole session before. It’s definitely not great to watch the session from the garage; it feels like sitting in the headmaster’s office, wishing to be back in class.”

Hamilton explained he was simply pushing too hard when he hit the wall at turn nine.

“It was an innocent mistake,” he said. “I was doing multiple laps on the Medium tyre and was really trying to find the limit. Obviously I went slightly over, I had a big snap out of turn nine and was drifting for a long time, hoping I wouldn’t hit the wall. But these things happen; you just have to put it behind straight away you and get back on the horse.”

Mercedes were unable to repair his car in time to send him back out for the rest of the session.

“Luckily Valtteri [Bottas] had a good session today, so there’ll be a lot of analysis from that,” said Hamilton. “The boys will do a great job fixing the car tonight and we’ll come back ready for a better day tomorrow.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2019 F1 season

• Crying in the Melbourne car park at 2019 grand prix was my career low – Ocon
• McLaren Racing reports reduced £71 million loss in 2019
• Kvyat: Hockenheim podium last year was “my biggest achievement” so far
• How the FIA’s new encrypted fuel flow meter targets Ferrari’s suspected ‘aliasing’ trick
• “He smashed my office door”: 23 must-see moments from ‘Drive to Survive’ season two

Browse all 2019 F1 season articles