The British Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton, the seven-times world champion in Formula One, abruptly exited the first round of official testing for the Saudi Grand Prix, Saturday, at the Jeddah circuit, by finishing 16th, which is what happens to him for the first time since the Brazilian Grand Prix. year 2017.
Hamilton, who has started from pole position 103 times during his career, will have to start Sunday’s race from the rear.
Hamilton was eliminated from the Brazilian Grand Prix in a crash five years ago, but the last time he failed to qualify for the second round due to speed (apart from collisions, weather and technical problems), was at the 2009 British Grand Prix.
His colleague and compatriot George Russell finished fourth in this round.
The drivers compete in three rounds to determine the starting position from the first place, with the last round including the ten drivers who scored the best time.
The tests witnessed a violent collision with the Haas driver, German Mick Schumacher, which led to a stop for about 50 minutes, and the driver was transported to a hospital by helicopter.
“Mick is in good condition but will be flown to hospital for further tests as a precaution,” the Haas team said on Twitter.
“I spoke to his mother and updated her,” said team manager Gunther Steiner. “He does not have any visible injuries, but we will do x-rays to make sure that there are no complications from the force of the impact.”