Lewis Hamilton explains disastrous Saudi Arabian qualifying display and apologises to Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton will start the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 16th on the grid after suffering a disastrous qualifying session.

The Mercedes driver failed to put in a time quick enough to reach Q2 and now faces an uphill battle to finish in the points on Sunday on a tricky Jeddah street circuit.

Hamilton has not failed to reach Q2 due to a lack of pace since the British Grand Prix back in 2009 and upon missing out he said over his team radio: ‘I’m so sorry.’

When asked briefly about what went wrong in a short interview he added: ‘I struggled with the balance of the car… it’s not where we want to be.

‘Unfortunately went the wrong way with the set up.’

Asked if the events of the last 24 hours, which saw an oil factory hit by a missile in a terror attack a few miles away from the F1 circuit, may have impacted him and his performance, he added: ‘Nope.’

Even former British racing driver Jenson Button was left baffled as to what happened to Hamilton on commentary.

‘Speechless, that’s just staggering,’ Button said about Hamilton’s early exit.

‘Just one tenth quicker than Albon in P17, so that’s a massive disappointment for Lewis.

‘I thought that if anyone could do it on a last lap, five laps in, it’s Lewis Hamilton. He gave it his all, but he’s out.’

As Q1 entered into its final two minutes, Hamilton, who triumphed in Jeddah last year, said: ‘Can’t seem to improve, man… are we are at risk right now?’

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Hamilton’s race engineer, Peter Bonnington replied: ‘Affirm, we are at risk.’

The 37-year-old upped the pace to