Lewis Hamilton’s world title defence is in tatters after his Mercedes broke down in qualifying for the German Grand Prix.
Hamilton will start Sunday’s race at Hockenheim from 14th on the grid after a hydraulic failure forced him out of contention.
Hamilton trails championship leader Sebastian Vettel by eight points, but the German is perfectly placed to extend his advantage having taken pole position in front of his home fans.
Lewis Hamilton desperately tried to salvage his qualifying session at the German Grand Prix
A gearbox failure and then hydraulic fault saw him eliminated after the first qualifying round
He was driven back to the Paddock on a motorbike in a huge moment in the title race
Pole position for Sebastian Vettel added further misery for Hamilton ahead of Sunday’s race
Vettel rubbed salt in his rival’s wounds with a blistering 1:11.212 which saw him snatch top spot from Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas at the end of a dramatic session.
Hamilton’s failure happened with a minute left in the opening part of qualifying.
Trying to improve his time, he ran wide and bounced across the kerbs before reporting his gearbox issue over the radio.
Race engineer Pete Bonnington responded by telling his charge to stop the car at which point Hamilton promptly got out and began pushing it down the track.
His team Mercedes tweeted that the situation ‘absolutely sucked’ with seconds remaining
But driver and team knew the game was up. In what could become the season’s defining image, Hamilton stopped, crouched down beside his stricken machine and shook his head before resting it on top of the car.
‘I’ve never seen body language like this from Lewis. This is a huge setback,’ said the Briton’s former team-mate Nico Rosberg on Sky Sports.
Hamilton hitched a lift back to the paddock on a scooter and, helmet still on, trudged back inside the Mercedes motorhome.
What a rotten run this is for the four-time world champion. An engine issue forced him to retire in Austria three weeks ago and his home race at Silverstone a week later was scuppered when Kimi Raikkonen crashed into him on the opening lap.
When pushing proved too tough, the car was lifted on to a vehicle to take it from the track
Hamilton cut a lonely and isolated figure as he tried to process the hydraulic failure in Q1
He came back through the field to take second spot behind Vettel at his home race and will require similar powers of recovery here.
Hamilton’s demise was greeted by cheers at Hockenheim, as the stage was left clear for Vettel.
He grew up just 30 miles away but has never won at this famous old circuit. He will never get a better chance to break his duck and doing so will see Vettel take firm control of the championship too.
Ferrari threw down the gauntlet early in qualifying with Raikkonen and Vettel becoming the first men to dip below 73 seconds for a lap this weekend.
The former ended the first part of qualifying on top, with his 1:12.505 three one-hundredths of a second faster than his team-mate.
Vettel has never won at Hockenheim but has a great opportunity after an impressive qualifying
Bottas came next but both he and Mercedes team-mate had no immediate answer to their rivals’ pace, half a second adrift of the red cars when the Hamilton drama unfolded.
A gearbox issue did for Stoffel Vandoorne too, with the McLaren man falling at the first hurdle alongside Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Toro Rosso pair Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley.
Mercedes returned to form in the second session which Bottas topped with a 1:12.152 to edge out Verstappen.
The session was delayed for nine minutes when stewards halted the action to clear gravel from the track after Marcus Ericsson spun at turn 13.
The Swede departed proceedings at that point, as did Fernando Alonso, Sergey Sirotkin and Daniel Ricciardo, with the latter electing not to run having received a 20-place grid penalty on Friday for a series of engine changes.
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas looked to have pole before Vettel’s record-breaking final lap time
Vettel was roared on at the start of the final session and responded by breaking the track record.
But Bottas beat his 1:11.539 only for Vettel to have the final say as the chequered flag dropped.
Raikkonen lines up behind his team-mate in third, with Max Verstappen fourth.
Haas pair Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen came next followed by Renault duo Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz. Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez completed the top 10.